Q. Can Obesity causes the cardiovascular disease?

As you know obesity or excessive weight is the primary cause of cardiovascular disease. It is an independent risk factor for heart disease. Obesity in generally associated with elevated triglyceride, elevated low density lipids, increased blood pressure and impaired glucose tolerance. Weight reduction improves these abnormalities. Keeping the body mass index within the normal range (18.5-24.9) can be helpful in retarding the onset of CAD. Remember we read about EM1 in unit 9. Further, android form of obesity makes us more prone to heart diseases as compared to the gynoid form of obesity. Thus, abdominal fat is considered more harmful than fat on the hips as you may recall studying in Unit 9, this can be measured by waist/hip ratio (WHR). Normal WHR is 0.85 for females and 1.0 for males.