Big Midsection May Up Risk of Dying Suddenly

Arguably, the risk is not upped enough since there are still too many fat people.

Carrying too much weight in the belly -- having an apple shape -- may increase the risk of sudden cardiac death, researchers found.

In a cohort study, the risk of sudden cardiac death increased along with waist-to-hip ratio (P=0.009 for trend), according to Selcuk Adabag, MD, of the University of Minnesota and the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis.

After accounting for numerous obesity-related comorbidities, however, other measures of obesity -- body mass index and waist circumference -- were not related to the risk of sudden cardiac death, Adabag reported at the Heart Rhythm Society meeting here.

Obesity "is a root cause of problems," he said in an interview. "People, particularly physicians, need to be paying attention to weight gain and should actively work on reducing weight."

Fat chance.

But in case you do want to lose the weight, go here and here to learn how.