Disease Proof

Brace yourself. Here comes some earth-shattering news. Ready? Pot bellies are bad for the heart! Shocking—that was sarcasm. Alan Mozes of HealthDay News is on it:

Banish the belly, not just the pounds: That's the heart-healthy advice from a new study that finds that "pot" bellies may be a big indicator of future heart disease.


"What we're seeing is a quite strong association between the pot-belly, apple shape among a relatively young group of people and the build-up of plaque in the arteries," said study co-author Dr. James A. de Lemos, an associate professor of medicine and director of the Coronary Care Unit at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

"Ten to 15 years down the road, this can lead to major cardiac problems, such as a heart attack," he said.

The findings are published in the Aug. 21 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), more than 870,000 Americans die from heart disease each year, making it the leading killer of both men and women.

I guess a lot of people don’t realize how harmful even a little extra weight can be. That’s why Dr. Fuhrman encourages patients to keeping losing weight. Even if friends tell them they’re thin enough. From Eat to Live:

I often have patients tell me they think they look too thin, or their friends or family members tell them they look too thin, even though they are still clearly overweight. Bear in mind that by their standards you may be too thin, or at least thinner than they are.