A Danish study  of approximately 81,000 men and women recently showed that the more weight a person gains, the more likely they are to suffer a heart attack as a result of clogged arteries and reduced blood flow. Researchers found that for every 8.8 pound increase in the weight proportion of a person’s body mass index (BMI), their risk of developing ischemic heart disease rose more than 50 percent.

The authors presented this as a cause-and-effect relationship between elevated BMI and heart disease. They also examined gene variants thought to play a role in increased BMI or predisposition for higher BMI and heart disease and concluded that these gene variants do, in fact, play a part in the development of high BMI and increased ischemic heart disease risk.

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