People with fatter legs are less likely to have high blood pressure, suggests new research.
The investigators believe that measuring leg fat can help lead attempts to reduce blood pressure. Those with larger legs, as it turns out, may not need to think too much about elevated blood pressure - a heart disease and stroke contributor.
"Distribution of fat matters," said the study's lead author, Aayush Visaria. "Even though we think that fat is bad in all cases, it might be that leg fat is not as bad as we think."
Previous research has found that excess weight around the middle can raise the risk of diabetes and heart disease. Middle fat is particularly important because all of the organs - liver, pancreas, intestines - are there and all of them are influenced by fat. Visaria noted that so much fat is messing up the work of certain organs.
But that doesn't mean people carrying more weight in their lower limbs just don't need to hold a good weight. A lot of fat isn't healthy, no matter where the fat is. It is easier to have muscle than to have fat. The study says that if you have fat, it is better to have more weight in your legs than to have it in your belly.
There can be no interpretation of this research to suggest that if a patient has higher leg fat, they will not have high blood pressure. Further studies into the reasons why blood pressure will be lower is an effective analysis to promote.
And it's still not clear how the distribution of fat can affect the risk of high blood pressure. However, it's likely that fat accumulated in multiple parts of the body will behave differently.
The discrepancy may have much to do with the levels of triglyceride (a form of blood fat). People with more leg fat in the study had reduced triglyceride levels, he added.
The new research involved about 6,000 people who took part in national health surveys from 2011 to 2016. Their average age was 37 years. Around half were women. Nearly one-quarter of the group had high blood pressure (defined as the blood pressure above 130/80 mm Hg in this study).
The investigators used special X-ray images to measure fat in the thighs. Both quantities were contrasted with the general measures of body fat. Men with 34% fat on their legs were described as having high fat on their legs. The cutoff for women was 39%.
Those with higher leg fat were 61% less likely than their slim-legged counterparts to have high blood pressure. The results were maintained even after the researchers accounted for variables such as age, sex, ethnicity, smoking, alcohol intake, cholesterol levels, and waist fat levels.
The researchers noted that this analysis was not intended to establish a connection between cause and effect. It could only demonstrate a correlation between higher fat in the legs and lower blood pressure.
