According to a Harvard Medical School study, slim individuals are more at risk of suffering from a heart attack because they may have fat pockets hidden within their muscles which can lead to a heart attack.

Scientists likened this type of fat to the marbling found in beef, which is what makes it so delicious. This sort of intramuscular fat could have serious health consequences. While the cuts of such beef, termed Wagyu, are the most sought after by people, they have serious health consequences.

Researchers previously indicated that such women fat marblers are at greater risk of succumbing to heart attack or heart failure, irrespective of body mass index. Indeed, every one percentage point increase in fat stored in muscles raises the risk of serious heart conditions by seven percent.

The aforementioned study points out that those with higher amounts of lean muscle have lower chances of suffering from such heart conditions. But any form of fat deposited beneath the skin did not seem to increase someone’s chances of suffering a fatal heart condition. Fat deposited underneath the skin did not increase chances of heart attack.

How did she perform this therapy?

The study evaluated more than 650 male and female patients with chest pain and dyspnea in Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, without any obstructive coronary artery disease. This condition is increased in patients over the age of 65, because of the gradual build-up of plaque in the arteries that supply oxygenated blood to the heart. The patients scanned for their heart functions, while the researchers did CT scans for body composition to determine the amount and location of fat and muscle in their torso regions.

Viviany Taqueti, M.D, PhD, a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and director of the cardiac stress laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital commented that, Intermuscular fat is present in a majority of skeletal muscle in an individual, however, interindividual variation in the distribution of this fat is quite high.”

He continued, “In our research, muscle and fat types are analyzed to determine how body composition can influence the microcirculation of the heart and the risk of heart failure, heart attack, and death.”

Why does heart disease occur even with low body weight, and how does extra lipid deposition affect the broader cardiovascular system?

People who carried more fat in their muscles were more likely to experience a specific type of heart disease, referred to as CMD, within the coronary microvessels that were abnormal in structure.

According to sedentary lifestyle experts, with the rise in myocellular fat, CMD risk escalated by 2 pc per muscle percent. The chances of developing severe heart ailments further rose by 7%. Instead, it is called active fat because its metabolism in the body increases and aids in inflammation and insulin resistance, unlike subcutaneous fat, which is stored under the skin.

Weight loss drugs could open a new avenue for treatment.

The researchers stated in the Journal of the European Heart that since heart health remains a topic of interest, it could be helpful for new research assessing the effects of obesity medications. The hypothesis is that these medicines may bring about muscle wasting which, in turn, activates the metabolic processes in the muscle, thereby causing breakdown of lipid reserves.

Scholars have argued that the measure for establishing obesity may be characterized as more beneficial than detrimental and its thresholds for intervention as controversial and imperfect markers of cardiovascular prognosis, particularly for females where a high body mass index may mean more ‘innocuous’ kinds of fats.