According to the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis analysis moderate weight loss in people who are obese may help improve their heart function.
Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis followed 60 obese individuals for a period of two years. The participants ranged in age from 22 to 64 and had body mass indexes between 30 and 44.
During the study period, subjects followed a low-calorie diet and were instructed to exercise for about three and a half hours per week. Over the first six months of the study, they lost an average of 9 percent, or about 22 pounds. Cardiovascular benefits were seen after the initial six months. The main form of exercise was walking.
Lead author Lisa de las Fuentes says:
“Losing 20 or so pounds might seem daunting to some people, but we showed that even a more modest weight loss can yield heart and vascular benefits,”.
The benefits of losing weight included decreased heart muscle thickening, improved systolic and diastolic function and reduced carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), which is a predictor for plaque formation in the arteries.
The study showed that weight loss lead to improvement in four key measures of heart and vascular health — decreasing thickness of heart muscle, improved pumping and relaxation functions and decreased thickness of the carotid artery walls.
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