|
 "For those who are obese and have (high) blood sugar or are just
obese, they should try a more intense approach to control their
weight and blood sugar levels so that they have a lower risk of
cardiovascular outcomes," said Dr. Fangjian Guo, the study's lead
author from The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
As reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the
researchers used data collected from 18,626 obese adults between
1988 and 2014 through the annual National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey.
Overall, the researchers saw decreases in blood pressure and
cholesterol levels during that time. However, they found increases
in hemoglobin A1c, which reflects blood sugar level over the past
several months. Higher levels of A1c suggest worse blood sugar
control and possibly diabetes.
Over the course of the study, the proportion of people with no risk
factors for heart disease - no high blood pressure, no high
cholesterol and normal blood glucose control - remained steady at
about 15 percent.
But by the end of the study, the proportion of people living with
only one or two risk factors for heart disease had dropped. In 1988,
70 percent had one or two risk factors, versus about 62 percent by
2014.
Instead, the proportion of people with all three risk factors for
heart disease had gone up - from about 16 percent in 1988 to about
22 percent in 2014.
Guo and his coauthor Dr. Timothy Garvey of the University of Alabama
at Birmingham say the findings show heart health has worsened and
the risk of type 2 diabetes has increased among obese adults since
the late 1980s.
[to top of second column] |
Type 2 diabetes develops when the body can't produce or process
enough of the hormone insulin to remove sugar from blood.
Obese adults with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high
blood sugar should be targeted to stem the rising rates of type 2
diabetes, the researchers add.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has an online
tool for calculating healthy weights, here: http://bit.ly/2aajlt2.
Guo said it will likely take many years for these rates to reverse
even if action is taken, because health problems from obesity often
pop up later in life.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/29EDwOS JAHA, online July 13, 2016.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
