Researchers found that among 25 healthy but overweight middle-aged adults, moderate weight loss appeared to restore some the heart's youthful elasticity -- making it easier for the heart to relax between contractions and refill with blood.
It did not appear to matter whether the weight loss was achieved through diet changes or exercise, the researchers report in the American Journal of Physiology.
"If individuals want to do something that's good for their heart, then my message to them is lose weight by the method they find most tolerable," Dr. Sandor J. Kovacs, the senior researcher on the study, said in a statement.
"They're virtually guaranteed that it will have a salutary effect on their cardiovascular system," said Kovacs, a professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. ...
| • | Weight loss by diet or exercise benefits heart
Reuters, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008 Byline: Reuters Health |
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| Story also ran in 7 others: Reuters (India), Reuters (UK), ChinaDaily.com, Canada.com, National Post (Canada), Stuff.co.nz (New Zealand) and Scientific American |
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