Source:
Medical News Today (October 16, 2007)

Excess weight bad for the heart

People who are slightly overweight or obese have a high risk of developing coronary heart disease — regardless of traditional cardiovascular risk factors. The Archives of Internal Medicine (September 10, 2007) published the combined data from 21 studies on overweight/obesity and heart disease involving 302,296 people. During the studies, 18,000 people experienced a cardiovascular event and/or died. After taking into account other variables, researchers found that people who are moderately overweight have a 32% higher risk of heart disease compared to their normal-weight counterparts. For an obese person, the risk is 81% higher.

In a related study published in Hypertension (November 2007) researchers at Boston University found that higher blood pressure and BMI in mid-life appear to increase the risk of heart failure in later life. Researchers found that recent (defined as the average of all available measurements during the decade) systolic blood pressure, pulse pressure and BMI were all associated with the risk of heart failure.

Source:
Medical News Today (September 10, 2007)
Reuters Health (October 9, 2007)

Obese people are six times more likely to develop cancer of the esophagus than people of normal weight, according to a study published in the British journal Gut. Australian researchers looked at 793 people with esophageal cancer, who were compared with 1,580 counterparts. Those with a BMI of 40 or more were six times more at risk than people with a BMI of between 18.5 and 25. Severely obese people with a history of gastroesophageal reflux disease, were most likely to develop esophageal cancer.

A new report finds that obesity rates continued to rise in 31 states in 2006. Two-thirds of U.S. adults and approximately 25 million children are obese or overweight, according to the Trust for America’s Health fourth annual report.

In the past 25 years, the rate of obesity has more than doubled. What’s more, poorer southern states are more affected. In Mississippi, which has one of the highest rates of poverty, 30.6% of adults are obese. In all but three of the 50 states – Colorado, Massachusetts and Vermont – adult obesity rates exceeded 20% in 2006.

Source:
Associated Press (August 27, 2007)