Research

Energy balance

Higher body mass index (BMI) is strongly associated with increased prevalence of hypertension and dyslipidemia (high blood pressure, high total cholesterol, and low HDL-C) in adults, with odds ratios for these conditions increasing significantly as BMI rises above 25 kg/m2.

Maintain a healthy body weight (BMI 18.5-24.9) to significantly reduce your risk of high blood pressure and abnormal cholesterol levels. As your BMI increases above 25, your risk for these conditions rises steadily. Regular monitoring of blood pressure and lipids is especially important if you are overweight or obese.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
These data quantify the strong associations of BMI with hypertension and abnormal lipids... The prevalence of high blood pressure and mean levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure increased as BMI increased... The prevalence of high blood cholesterol and mean levels of cholesterol were higher at BMI levels over 25 rather than below 25... Rates of low HDL-C increased and mean levels of HDL-C decreased as levels of BMI increased.
Clarice Brown et al. · Obesity Research · 2000

Why this rating

Large national cross-sectional survey (NHANES III) with robust statistical controls, though causality is limited by cross-sectional design.

Source

Body Mass Index and the Prevalence of Hypertension and Dyslipidemia

Clarice Brown et al. · Obesity Research · 2000

DOI 10.1038/oby.2000.79

cross_sectional · n=18825Cited 853×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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