While it’s been acknowledged for some time that visceral fat — belly fat —that wraps around internal organs is a health hazard, new research suggests it’s particularly dangerous to the male heart.

Researchers who studied advanced cardiovascular MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans of 2,244 adults aged 46 to 78 without known heart disease found that abdominal obesity — an unhealthy hip-to-waist ratio — is associated with worrisome patterns of “cardiac remodelling,” more so than overall weight alone.

The findings “highlight the need for personalized risk assessment in obesity -related cardiovascular disease,” the authors wrote in research presented at this week’s annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago.

Canadians are experiencing “high and growing lev

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