By Katrina McLachlan
There are many medical and monetary motivations for leading a healthy lifestyle. In addition to the benefit to personal wellbeing, it is easier to obtain life insurance when in good health.
There may be further health risks linked to obesity, with new research suggesting that it can increase the risk of dying from heart disease regardless of whether a person has any other risk factors.
Experts believed that people who were obese faced a greater threat of heart disease because their weight contributed to the risk factors, which include high blood pressure and cholesterol. But a study has discovered that there is another risk, as well as the more 'direct' factors.
Inflammation in the body, which could be a significant factor in heart disease deaths, may be caused by a substance that is produced by fatty tissue.
During the study, which included more than 6,000 middle aged men, the risk of a heart attack was compared across categories of increasing body mass index (BMI), using two different approaches.
One took into account any differences in the age or smoking status of the men, while the second accounted for cardiovascular risk factors, such as high cholesterol and blood pressure and any medications the men were taking.
The results showed that the higher a man's weight, the greater was his likelihood of having other risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
There was no increased risk of a non-fatal heart attack with increasing BMI using either approach.
However, the risk of death was significantly higher in men who were obese - a BMI of 30 to 39.9 kg/m2.
In the model simply correcting for age and smoking, this risk was 75% higher.
Despite correcting for known cardiovascular risk factors, medication, and deprivation in the second model, the risk was still 60% higher.
The research was carried out at the British Heart Foundation Cardiovascular Research Centre at the University of Glasgow and published in the journal Heart.
