By Staff Reports
(Hawaii)– From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
It doesn’t take much weight gain to make blood pressure go up.
Mayo Clinic researchers saw this in an eight week study involving 16 people who had normal weight at the start. The researchers gave them enough extra calories to raise their weight about 5 percent, and compared them to 10 people who maintained their normal weight.
Researcher Dr. Naima Covassin says the systolic, or top, blood pressure number rose about 4 points in the weight gainers, and the increase was greater with more belly fat:
“We saw a relationship between changes in blood pressure and increases in visceral fat. Visceral fat is the fat that is located inside your belly.”
The study presented at an American Heart Association meeting was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Learn more at healthfinder.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.