大肚子对心脏不好

Belly fat, even in people who are not overall overweight, is a sign of an unhealthy heart, a new study reports.

一项新研究认为即便肚子大的人总体而言不算超重，腹部肥胖也预示着心脏不健康。

“See your doctor if your waist is bigger than your hips,” said study author Dr. Jose Medina-Inojosa

该研究的作者Jose Medina-Inojosa博士表示：“如果你的腰围比臀围大，那么你应该去看医生。”

The most common way to measure how overweight or underweight someone is the Body Mass Index (BMI), a simple measure defined as the body mass divided by the square of the body height. BMI is a decent index, but it’s far from perfect and can be misleading. BMI completely disregards the distribution of muscle and fat. Muscles are much denser and compact than fatty tissue, so someone with a lot of muscle might seem overweight and similarly, a person might have a normal BMI but be high on fat and low on muscle. Storing fat around the belly is a very bad sign for your health, even if your overall weight seems fine.

衡量一个人是否超重最常见的方法是身体质量指数(BMI)，它根据人们的身高来定义身体质量。BMI是一个相当好的指标，但它并不算完美，有时候会误导人。BMI完全无视了肌肉和脂肪的分布。相比脂肪组织，肌肉的密度更大。因此某个拥有很多肌肉的人似乎会超重，类似的某个BMI正常的人也有可能拥有很多脂肪和很少的肌肉。将脂肪储存在腹部周围，对人体健康十分不好，即便你的整体重量似乎没问题。

The study tracked 1,692 residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota, aged 45 years or older, a sample that was representative of the county population for age and sex. Participants underwent clinical evaluation and also underwent measurements of their weight, height, hip, and waist circumference. Researchers defined central obesity, in a ratio which divides the waist circumference by the hip circumference, as 0.90 or above for men and 0.85 or above for women.

该研究追踪了明尼苏达州奥姆斯特郡1692名居民，他们的年龄在45岁及以上。这一人口样本能够代表该郡人口年龄和性别。参与者们经历了临床诊断和体重、身高、臀围及腰围测量。研究人员们定义中心肥胖为男性腰臀比超过0.9及以上，女性腰臀比超过0.85及以上。

The initial study was carried out from 1997 to 2000, and follow-up evaluations were carried up until 2016. Researchers found that people with a normal BMI and central obesity were twice as likely to suffer from heart problems compared to participants without central obesity, regardless of their BMI. Dr. Medina-Inojosa said:“People with a normal weight but a fat belly have more chance of heart problems than people without a fat belly, even if they are obese according to BMI. This body shape indicates a sedentary lifestyle, low muscle mass, and eating too many refined carbohydrates.”

最初的研究在1997年至2000年之间进行，随后的评估在2016年才开始。研究人员们发现相比没有中心肥胖的参与者(不论其BMI如何)，BMI正常但中心肥胖的参与者患心脏病的概率更大。Medina-Inojosa博士说道：“体重正常但腹部肥胖的人患心脏病的概率比那些腹部不胖的人更大，即便后者从BMI来看算肥胖人士。这一体型预示着久坐的生活方式、肌肉质量低以及吃了太多精致碳水化合物。”

The opposite is also true: people with a higher BMI but no belly fat probably have more muscle tissue, which is a sign of better health.

反之也对：BMI更高但腹部不胖的人有更多肌肉组织，这说明他们更健康。

“The belly is usually the first place we deposit fat, so people classified as overweight BMI but without a fat belly probably have more muscle which is good for health,” he continued. “Muscle is like a metabolic storehouse and helps decrease lipid and sugar levels in the blood.”

“腹部是我们分解脂肪的第一个地方，因此被BMI判定为超重但腹部不胖的人有更多肌肉，这对健康有好处。肌肉就像新陈代谢库，能够帮助减少血液中的脂质和糖分。”

The main takeaway, Medina-Inojosa says, is for doctors not to assume that patients are at low risk of heart conditions just because they have a normal BMI. As useful as the BMI can be, it can also be misleading, tricking patients into a sense of false security.

Medina-Inojosa认为该研究的主要意义在于，告诉医生不要因为病人BMI正常就认为病人患心脏病的概率低。BMI虽然有用，但它也存在误导性，给了病人错误的安全感。

“Our study provides evidence that doctors should also measure central obesity to get a better picture of whether a patient is at risk,” Medina-Inojosa concludes.

Medina-Inojosa总结道：“我们的研究认为医生还应该衡量中心肥胖度，从而更了解病人的情况。”

The results have not been peer-reviewed yet.

该研究尚未经过同行评议。