Recent research studies have shown that belly fat is not metabolically inert, but actively promotes the secretion of many powerful hormones such as cortisol that not only make it more difficult to lose body weight, but also promote systemic inflammation that raise the risk for heart failure, cardiovascular diseases and DNA aberrations that help cancer cells to grow and metastasize.

A team of Swedish researchers publishing the results of their work in the journal PLOS Medicine have found that adding just a few extra pounds can raise the risk of heart failure by seventeen percent. Prior studies have failed to determine whether obesity was the cause or just a marker of a separate underlying cause. Scientists in this study used a new technique to examine obesity and determine if being overweight is a valid trigger of cardiovascular disease.