Originally published July 31 2005
People who have suffered a heart attack should shed weight for heart health, study shows
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
In a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, people who suffered a heart attack and who had metabolic syndrome -- which puts people at higher risk for diabetes -- were less likely to develop full diabetes, which could lead to a second attack, when they reduced their weight.
"Metabolic syndrome had a strong impact in the prognosis of patients with previous heart attack," said Roberto Marchioli, M.D., at the Consorzio Mario Negri Sud in Santa Maria Imbaro, Italy.
"The diagnosis of metabolic syndrome in post-heart attack patients indicated a high risk of cardiovascular events as well as of late onset diabetes.
But the study also showed that weight reduction in overweight metabolic syndrome patients had a favorable impact on prognosis," he said.
"The most important clinical consequence of this analysis is that lifestyle modification (for example, weight reduction) has a very favorable prognosis in overweight metabolic syndrome patients.
Patients who achieved even modest weight reduction significantly reduced their risk of late onset diabetes," Dr. Marchioli said.
Metabolic syndrome is characterized by a cluster of risk factors related to insulin resistance and is considered to be an early indicator of impaired glucose metabolism; thus, these patients are at high risk of developing diabetes, which is strongly related to heart disease risk.
The information was originally collected as part of the GISSI-Prevenzione Study that was designed to study the effects of polyunsaturated fatty acid and vitamin E supplements on heart attack patients.
Up to now, evidence on the role of metabolic syndrome in cardiovascular disease came mainly from studies in primary prevention; that is, preventing the first heart attack, and the real impact of metabolic syndrome in a large population of post-heart attack patients had not been studied before," Dr. Marchioli said.
"This underscores the importance of screening for metabolic syndrome, even if diabetes is not present, in cardiac patients.
Moreover, this report shows that weight reduction in such patients is associated with an improved long-term outcome," Dr. Wong said.
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