Shrink your big belly—for your ticker's sake: People with abdominal fat are at greater risk of developing high blood pressure than those with a similar BMI whose fat is concentrated elsewhere, reports a new study from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

That's bad news for your heart. Hypertension causes the organ to pump more blood, putting more pressure on your arterial walls. That increases your chances of developing serious health issues like heart disease and stroke.

But why does the location of fat matter more than the amount of fat? The researchers aren’t quite sure yet, but have one theory: Since the fat around the organs that help regulate hypertension was particularly bad in the study, the fat tissue could somehow affect the neighboring kidney or adrenal glands, likely by compressing or preventing them from releasing helpful hormones, says lead study author Aslan Turer, M.D., M.H.S.

Previous studies have linked a big gut to diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and even erectile dysfunction, so your healthiest bet is to lose the belly. “Even small changes in weight can have a major influence on the metabolic consequences of obesity, especially diabetes and hypertension,” Dr. Turer says.

Visceral fat, like the kind found in the study, is more easily lost (and regained) than subcutaneous fat, like that in your butt or thighs, he explains. That means the tried-and-true combination of exercise and healthy eating may simply be enough to lose the bad fat and help keep your heart healthy.

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Rachael Schultz Rachael Schultz is a freelance writer who focuses primarily on why our bodies and brains work the way they do, and how we can optimize both (without losing our sanity).

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