Researchers at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston have carried out a study and discovered that regular exercise lessens the chances of heart disease in obese women.

However, the study researchers said that the risk related to a heart problem gets not completely eliminated by higher levels of physical activity, if women have higher body mass index (BMI).

Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in women in the United States. Both obesity and inactive lifestyle are modifiable risk factors for coronary heart disease.

As a part of study, researchers recruited 38,987 women. Each woman provided data about her height, weight, exercise routine, medical history, and other health habits.

The study results showed that heart disease risk was lowest for women with normal weight who were energetic, slightly higher for women having normal weight who were inactive, higher still for women who were overweight and active, and highest for women who were overweight and inactive.

The authors in the journal article stated, “Even high quantities of physical activity are unlikely to fully reverse the risk of coronary heart disease in overweight and obese women without concurrent weight loss.”

Fat cells release chemicals, which can accelerate the hardening of arteries, cause inflammation, and lead to blood clots. Regular exercise program offsets all these potentially heart-damaging processes by meliorating blood vessel function.

So, in this way the body weight also matters in cutting one’s risk of heart disease.

The study is published in the April 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.