Weight Loss: The Real Reason On And Off Dieting Could Be Putting Your Life In Danger

Losing weight only to gain it back soon after is not particularly beneficial for your health, but it could also put your heart at risk. A new study found that women who lost at least half a stone before gaining it back over a one-year period are more likely to have heart problems. The more these episodes are frequent the more the risks are increased.

Dangerous for the heart

‘Achieving a healthy diet is generally recommended to maintain a healthy heart, but maintaining weight loss is difficult, and weight fluctuations can make it difficult to achieve ideal cardiovascular health,’ says Brooke Aggarwal, lead author of the report published by the American Heart Association.

The study made on 485 women found that participants with at least one episode like this were 82% less likely to have an ideal body mass index (BMI) and 65% less likely to have a cardiovascular health deemed optimal on the scale proposed by the American Heart Association. BMI is a controversial measurement tool still to this day and does not replace a complete diagnosis.

A little moderation

‘Women who have not had a pregnancy were often younger and more likely to enter this cycle of weight loss earlier in life. We need to identify the critical periods of the effect of weight fluctuation on the risk of heart disease in the course of life, to find out if it is more harmful for women to start these diets when they are younger,’ says Aggarwal.

The researcher also points out that similar data has been collected from men. It is worth recalling here the distinction between correlation and causation. These diets are associated with heart problems but are not necessarily the direct source. Stress that causes these fluctuations could be a factor in this decline in cardiovascular health, among a multitude of other possible and probable hypotheses.