Fat around the heart worse than body fat

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., July 31 (UPI) -- The location of fat -- around the heart -- may be more important to heart health than the total body fat, U.S. researchers said.

Researchers at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., found fat deposits around the heart known as pericardial fat were more related to the levels of calcified coronary plaque than total weight or waist circumference.

"Even a thin person can have fat around the heart," lead study author Dr. Jingzhong Ding said in a statement.

The study, published in the the journal Obesity, said calcified coronary plaque was observed in 58 percent of participants. Those in the group with the highest levels of pericardial fat were almost five times more likely to have calcified coronary plaque.

Pericardial fat is known to have a higher secretion of inflammatory cytokines -- proteins that regulate inflammation -- than fat stored just under the skin. The scientists suspect that constant exposure to inflammatory proteins produced by fat around the heart may accelerate the development of atherosclerosis.

"Inflammatory mediators released from pericardial fat may promote inflammation in local coronary arteries and lead to coronary atherosclerosis," Ding said.