Fat May Be Your Friend

Bob Carroll

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This has absolutely nothing to do with the law. But, it is good news for those of us who cannot get down to our ideal body weight.

Obesity may reduce risk of heart failure death

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Obese patients hospitalized with heart failure tend to fare better than their lean counterparts, new research suggests.

The report, which appears in the American Heart Journal, indicates that this "obesity paradox," which was previously described in patients with chronic heart failure, may also apply to patients with rapidly worsening or "decompensated" heart failure.

"This study suggests that overweight and obese patients may have a greater metabolic reserve to call upon during an acute heart failure episode," lead investigator Dr. Gregg Fonarow told Reuters Health, "which may lessen in-hospital (death) risk"

Fonarow of the University of California, Los Angeles and colleagues came to this conclusion after studying data on almost 109,000 heart failure episodes in more than 80,000 patients.