Simple reduction in weight may not result in improved cardiovascular health, according to a new study from University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW).
Fat mass is the weight of fat in different parts of the body, while lean mass is the weight of muscle. Senior author of the study, Ambarish Pandey, MD, and assistant professor of internal medicine at UTSW explained, “We have long counseled patients to lower their body-mass index into the ‘healthy’ range. But that doesn’t tell us whether a patient has lost ‘fat mass’ or ‘lean mass,’ or where the weight came off. We didn’t know how each of these factors might affect patients’ risk of heart disease.”
The study, using calculated lean and fat mass from the data of 5103 participants in the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) Trial, showed that the more fat mass and waist circumference were lowered, the lower their risk of developing heart failure. A 10% reduction in fat mass led to a 22% lower risk of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and a 24% lower risk of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, two subtypes of this condition. Reduced waist circumference lowered the risk of heart failure with preserved injection fraction, but not heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Reduction in lean mass had no effect on heart failure.
Study author Kershaw Patel, MD, study author and a cardiologist at Houston Methodist Hospital, said, “We showed that reductions in specific, not all, body composition parameters are linked to heart failure.”
Further research is needed to see whether, for example, gains in lean muscle mass is linked to reduced rates of heart failure.
Source: Medical Xpress
