Body Care Kits

Thin thighs linked to heart problems

Those with skinny thighs are three times more likely to die and more than twice as likely to have heart problems

Women and men with thighs below 60cm in circumference face a far higher risk of premature death and heart disease, according to a study released last week.

The surprising find could provide doctors with an additional barometer of cardiac risk, the authors said in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Berit Heitmann and Peder Frederiksen of Copenhagen University Hospital examined data for 1,436 men and 1,380 women whose body measurements were taken in Denmark in the late 1980s.

Over the next 12 years, more than 400 participants died and another 540 suffered either cardiovascular or heart disorders. Men outnumbered women roughly two to one.

Survivors without heart problems were found to have significantly thicker thighs once other risk factors - obesity, smoking and high cholesterol - were taken into account, the investigators found.

'A threshold effect for thigh circumference was evident, with a greatly increased risk of premature death below around 60cm,' the study concluded.

The bad news for those with ham-like upper legs is that bigger thighs do not seem to offer any advantage.

'Above the threshold, there seemed to be no additional benefit for either sex,' the study said.

Those with the thinnest thighs were more than three times times likelier to die compared to those with the 60cm thighs and more than twice as likely to have heart problems.

The Danish team suggested small thighs could be a pointer of low cardiac muscle mass, but further research is needed.

Earlier studies have shown a clear link between heart disease and being obese or underweight, but this is the first to look at the implications of thigh size on coronary health.

The researchers said it could join other measures currently used to assess cardiac risks, like body-mass index (BMI) and waist and hip circumference.

However, at least one independent expert was skeptical that the new findings will become a diagnostic tool.

'It seems unlikely that thigh circumference will be clinically useful,'said Dr Ian Scott of the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, in a commentary also published in the BMJ.

AFP

Labels: thin thighs

# posted by Leo @ 9:01 AM