Obesity occurs when there is an accumulation of excess or abnormal amounts of fat in the body. At a time when the world is grappling with the rampant condition, it is important to distinguish between obesity and being overweight. People are considered to be obese when their body mass index is more than 30 kg/m2, when the normal range is 25-30 kg/m2. Obesity ties alongwith it multiple risks such as diabetes, high blood pressure etc. According to a new study, it can also act as a clarion call to a host of cardiovascular diseases,even in those aged as young as 17.
Yes you heard us. Higher than normal body mass index (BMI) has often been linked to development cardiovascular diseases in mid-to-late life, but the latest study has come as cause of great concern especially in the times, when a significant chunk of the current youth across the world is struggling with obesity.
Kaitlin Wade, a research associate at the University of Bristol said, "Our results showed that the causal impact of higher BMI on cardiac output was solely driven by the volume of blood pumped by the left ventricle. This, at least in part, can explain the causal effect of higher BMI on cardiac hypertrophy and higher blood pressure that we observed in all our analyses.
The team of researchers of the British based study demonstrated in their study, that while obesity caused poorer cardiovascular health in young adults, higher BMI did not seem to affect heart rate in this group.
The study further supported necessary efforts to tackle and limit the chances of the obesity epidemic at an early age, to prevent the associated cardiovascular ill-health and disease risk , which might take its grievous root in the young adults.
In a paper presented to the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics, Wade noted, "We believe that there are clear messages for cardiovascular health in our findings and we hope that they may lead to increased efforts to tackle obesity from early life,"