The Study
Sex-specific body fat distribution predicts cardiovascular ageing
This study looked at a bunch of people and found that people with more belly fat tend to have hearts that look older than their real age. But it didn’t change anyone’s fat or make them do anything different — it just watched and recorded. So we can’t say fat makes hearts age faster — only that they often go together.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
This study looked at how different kinds of body fat affect how fast your heart and blood vessels age, using scans from over 20,000 people.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 544 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — a 1% increase in liver fat is like adding over a year of heart aging, even if your weight is normal.
- 2Where your fat sits matters more than how much you weigh.
- 3Liver fat: +1.066 years of heart aging per 1% increase.
- 4Visceral fat: +0.656 years per liter.
- 5Android (belly) fat: +0.983 years per kg in men only.
- 6Gynoid (hip/thigh) fat: -0.96 years in women — meaning it slowed aging.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
European Heart Journal
Year
2025
Authors
Vladimir Losev, Chang Lu, Shamin Tahasildar, Deva S Senevirathne, P. Inglese, Wenjia Bai, Andrew P King, Mit Shah, A. de Marvao, Declan P. O’Regan
Related Content
Claims (6)
Men and women tend to store body fat in different areas: men more around the abdomen, and women more around the hips and thighs.
Higher amounts of fat in the liver are linked to older biological cardiovascular age compared to fat stored around the abdomen, with each 1% increase in liver fat corresponding to about 1.066 additional years of cardiovascular aging.
In middle-aged adults, having more fat around the internal organs is linked to a faster rate of cardiovascular aging, with each additional liter of this fat corresponding to an extra 0.656 years of biological aging in the heart and blood vessels, even after accounting for overall body weight and chronological age.
In men, having more fat around the upper body is linked to an older biological age of the heart and blood vessels, with each extra kilogram of this fat type adding nearly a year to cardiovascular age. This link is not seen in women.
In women before menopause, having more fat stored around the hips and thighs is linked to a slower decline in cardiovascular health over time, and genetic factors that influence this fat distribution are also associated with better cardiovascular outcomes.
The amount of fat stored around internal organs and within muscles and the liver is more strongly linked to signs of aging in the heart and blood vessels than overall body weight measured by BMI.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.