Daily HealthBeat Tip - December 18, 2007

Weighing on your blood vessels

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Endothelial cells line your blood vessels, and if they’re in trouble, you can get a higher risk of heart attack or stroke. And a Mayo Clinic researcher says just a modest weight gain can create trouble. 

Virend Somers measured endothelial cell function in younger adults with healthy weights. He had some gain about nine pounds, then lose it, and others keep their weight steady.

Things didn’t look good for the gainers:

``A modest level of weight gain – which we tend to accept as part of life’s ups and downs, so to speak – does have potentially harmful effects on the cardiovascular system.’’ (10 seconds)

But Somers says that, once the gainers lost the weight, their endothelial cells went back to healthy.

The study, supported by the National Institutes of Health, was presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2007.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May, 26 2008