American Heart Association call to action: obesity as a major risk factor for coronary heart disease. AHA Nutrition Committee.

Abstract

In response to the emerging body of scientific, medical, and behavioral data about the link between excess adiposity and coronary heart disease, the American Heart Association (AHA) has reclassified obesity as a major, modifiable risk factor for coronary heart disease. In doing so, the AHA focuses more of its attention and resources on the role of obesity in cardiovascular disease and issues a “call to action” to the medical and research community, as well as the public. The actions that we request are listed below and begin with the need for more funding for research on obesity, particularly the interrelated roles of the biochemical and behavioral factors that underlie weight regulation. Only through such research can we better understand this disorder and develop more effective preventive strategies and treatments for obesity. Obesity research today is in its infancy, at a stage comparable to lipid research 20 years ago. From epidemiology studies, we have learned that obesity is a serious risk factor for coronary heart disease, on a par with cigarette smoking, physical inactivity, and high blood cholesterol. Because the research on this “new” risk factor for heart disease is in its infancy, the solutions are less clear. Few drugs exist to prevent and treat obesity, and certainly there are no drugs comparable to the “statins” to reduce high blood cholesterol. The long-term effects of the few treatments available remain unknown. There are few tools …