Large waist may raise death risk for women

Women with large bellies may die earlier of heart disease and cancer than other women, regardless of their weight, a large US study suggests. The findings, reported in the medical journal Circulation, add to evidence that when it comes to health risks, overall weight is not as important as where a person carries the fat. In the study, researchers at the National Institutes of Health and Harvard Medical School found that middle-aged and older women who were abdominally obese — with a waistline of 35 inches or more — were more likely than their thinner counterparts to die of heart disease or cancer during the study period. When it came to the risk of cancer death, women with the largest waists had a 63 percent higher risk than women who were most trim around the middle. The study found that the risks of a large waist were independent of a woman’s overall body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight in relation to height. In fact, even among normal-weight women, those whose waistlines spanned 35 inches or more faced a greater risk of dying from heart disease or stroke.

Eating disorders may be contagious
A study of U.S. high school students provides additional evidence that eating disorders may be contagious. In a study, researchers found that binging, fasting, diet pill use and other eating disorder symptoms clustered within counties, particularly among female students. In the current study, they looked at whether a similar pattern would be seen among high school students at the county-wide level by analysing nationally representative data on 15,349 high school students. A pair of students from the same county was 4 per cent to 10 per cent more likely to share an eating-disordered behaviour when compared to pairs in which each person came from a different county. Severe food intake restriction, dieting, exercising and diet pill use all showed clustering by county, as did any weight control symptom overall or any eating disorder symptom.

Vitamin D guards against artery disease
Vitamin D may protect against an artery disease in which fatty deposits restrict blood flow to the limbs, a research said. Scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York found that people with low levels of vitamin D in their blood experience an increased risk for a condition known as peripheral artery disease, or PAD. This condition most often reduces blood flow to the legs, causing pain and numbness, impairing the ability to walk and in some cases leading to amputation. It develops when fatty deposits accumulate in the inner linings of artery walls, cutting blood flow and oxygen to the legs, feet, arms and elsewhere.