Beyond BMI: Unexpected Fat Storage Location Tied to Heart Disease

While abdominal fat is widely recognized as harmful to cardiovascular health, researchers from Harvard have recently found another fat-storage location in the body that has largely been overlooked.

Viviany Taqueti, director of the Cardiac Stress Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, led a team that analyzed 669 people hospitalized for chest pain and/or shortness of breath, without signs of coronary artery obstruction. Seventy percent of the participants were women, with an average age of 63.

Examination Methods: PET/CT and CT Scans for Body Composition Analysis

During admission, the medical team conducted cardiac exams using PET/CT scans and also performed CT scans to assess the patients’ body composition.The team calculated the “fatty muscle fraction,” which relates the fat in muscles to total body fat.

After six years, the researchers found that for every 1% increase in intramuscular fat, there was a 2% higher risk of coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD). Furthermore, the risk of developing serious heart disease increased by 7% for each 1% additional muscle fat, regardless of BMI or total body fat.

Muscle Fat: A New Risk Factor for Heart Disease

According to Taqueti, fat stored in the muscles may contribute to inflammation and changes in glucose metabolism, leading to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, factors that can damage blood vessels and the heart muscle itself.

The discovery of muscle fat raises questions about how to assess the risk of heart disease, as people store muscle fat differently. BMI, which relates height and weight, may no longer be sufficient as an indicator.

Taqueti suggests that knowing that intermuscular fat increases the risk of heart disease offers a new way to identify individuals at high risk, regardless of BMI. This could be crucial for understanding the impact of incretin-based therapies, such as GLP-1 receptor agonists, including semaglutide (Ozempic), which has shown heart health benefits.

Ongoing Research on the Impact of Muscle Fat and Combat Strategies

Taqueti mentions that although it is not yet clear how to reduce the risk in individuals with fat in their muscles, the team is investigating how interventions like diet, exercise, surgery, and weight-loss medications may impact body composition and heart disease rates.

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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