Fat Neck Link To Heart Disease

Written by Jamie Stowe | Thursday, 19 March 2009 | There is 1 comment

Ukmedix News has previously published research that shows that there is a link between heart disease and the circumference of your stomach but a new research project reports that not only your stomach thickness is linked to heart disease but also your neck thickness too. The research which was done by the Framingham Heart Study even noted that individuals who had relatively slim waists were at an increased risk of heart disease if they had a large neck. The research which was done on almost 3,500 men and women assessed the risk of heart disease by looking at levels of cholesterol and blood glucose.

The researchers clearly saw the link between increased neck circumferences and heart disease risk factors. For almost every 3cm of neck circumference men saw a 2.2mg per decilitre reduction of good cholesterol and women saw a reduction of 2.7mg per decilitre. The researchers also noted that for every 3cm of neck there was an increased blood glucose level of 3.0mg/dl in men and 2.1mg/dl in women.

The researchers said that doctors could use neck measurements as a very ‘crude measure’ of assessment for upper body fat which has previously been linked to a higher risk of heart disease and heart attacks. More research on the link between neck measurements and heart disease should be undertaken to confirm the link and possibly standardise diagnosis of heart disease risk.

People who have large stomachs tend to have a larger amount of visceral fat around their organs which is extremely unhealthy. Professor Bell from the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre commented that this sort of fat around your liver and heart is difficult to shift and exercise as well as diet is required.

This research was announced to a conference of the American Heart Association.

© 2012 This content has been exclusively written by UKMedix [request source information]