New Study Links Obesity, Heart Problems
(Chicago, AP News, 1/10/06)

Lijing Yan of Northwestern University, and her colleagues, followed 17,643 Chicago area adults who had no heart disease or diabetes at the outset of the study. The researchers, who tracked the subjects for an average of 32 years, found a link between being overweight in mid-life and dying of heart disease later in life. These findings suggest that excess weight is an independent risk factor for cardiac-related death, even in middle aged people who do not yet have an poor risk factor profile.

(Journal of the American Medical Association, Jan. 2006)