Healthy Weight, Rather Than Fitness, Most Important for Preventing High Blood Pressure

Healthy Weight, Rather Than Fitness, Most Important for Preventing High Blood Pressure: Individuals who have a healthy body weight are more likely than those who are physically fit to have lower blood pressure, according to the results of a new study. In a comparison of fitness vs fatness, body mass index (BMI) was more important than cardiorespiratory fitness for predicting systolic blood pressure, report researchers.
The findings suggest that achieving normal-weight status should be the primary goal for hypertension prevention, and only modest levels of cardiorespiratory fitness are needed to obtain optimal blood pressure among individuals who are normal weight. Am Heart J 2010;160:166-170. Abstract