By Jimmy Downs

Saturday Nov 17 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Elderly men with a greater waist circumference, which indicates both central and general obesity,  have a high risk of coronary heart disease, according to a new study in Obesity.  

The association between waist circumference and coronary heart disease was found significant only among elderly men, but not women, according to the study led by Debashish K. Dey and Lauren Lissner of Göteborg University in Göteborg, Sweden.

For the study intended to reveal the association between obesity and risk of coronary heart disease, researchers followed up for a period of 15 years 737 men and 860 women aged 70 years free of coronary heart disease at baseline who were participants of three birth cohorts in Göteborg, Sweden.

Men in the highest quartile of waist circumference and body mass index were 36% and 42 % more likely to suffer coronary heart disease, respectively, after adjustment for confounders including cohorts, smoking status, diabetes mellitus, systolic blood pressure and cholesterol.

However, neither waist circumference nor body mass index was associated with coronary heart disease in women.  In other words, obesity was not associated with coronary heart disease risk in women.

When the deaths during the first five years of follow-up were excluded, the risk of coronary heart disease became higher among men who suffered obesity or were in the highest quartile of waist circumference and body mass index.  But the association remained unclear among women.

The researchers concluded "WC (waist circumference), an indicator of both central and general obesity, appears to be a stronger predictor of CHD (coronary heart disease) than BMI (body mass index) in elderly males, but in females, obesity was not a risk factor for CHD."

A plant-based diet can completely stop progression of coronary heart disease or even reverse the disease and help obese people to lose weight, according to Dr. T Colin Campbell, a distinguished nutrition professor at Cornell University.