Weight gain in 20s can lead to weaker heart in old age, finds study

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People who gain excess weight from their 20s are likely to have weaker hearts by the time they reach their 60s, according to a study.

Scientists from the University College London (UCL) verified this by examining the links between weight gain in young and middle-aged adults and enlarged hearts that pump blood less well. This is over and above the effect of being overweight in later years, they said in the paper, published in the European Heart Journal.

Alun Hughes, Professor of Cardiovascular Physiology and Pharmacology at UCL noted that early weight gain causes heart damage beyond the effects of being overweight later in life.

He said that while it is known that "being overweight is associated with poorer heart health, we know little about the long-term relationship between being overweight over the adult life course and subsequent heart health".

Hughes noted that the research aimed "to look at whether being overweight at earlier stages of adult life showed lasting associations with poorer heart health irrespective of people's weight in later life".

The study included 1,690 people born in England, Scotland, and Wales in 1946. The participants were examined based on their body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio, and ECGs.

Researchers found that elevated BMI from age 20 onwards led to higher left ventricular mass in individuals in their 60s, indicating poor heart health and increased mortality risk. A five-unit higher BMI at age 43 correlated with a 15 per cent or 27-gram increase in left ventricular mass.

They added that the study included mostly white European people, so it may not apply to the global population, although Professor Hughes said there is a close link.

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