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 For people with coronary artery disease, rapidly losing and regaining weight — or “yo-yo” dieting — may increase the risk for deadly heart attacks and strokes, a new study suggests. 
 
 Scientists prospectively followed 9,509 men and women with stable coronary artery disease, examining them and recording their weight an average of 12 times over five years. The median body weight variation over the period was 3.8 pounds per visit. 
 
 After adjusting for other risk factors, they found that compared with the one-fifth of people with the lowest weight variability, the one-fifth with the highest had a 78 percent higher risk of new onset diabetes, a 117 percent higher risk of heart attack, a 136 percent higher risk of stroke, and a 124 percent higher risk of death. The study, sponsored by Pfizer, is in The New England Journal of Medicine. 
 
 “It’s important to lose weight,” said the lead author, Dr. Sripal Bangalore, an associate professor of medicine at the New York University School of Medicine, “but this data says you have to keep it off. Many times people are motivated until they lose the weight, and then they feel they can take it easy. Maybe this information can be used as motivation to keep the weight off.” ||||| Coronary artery disease develops when the major blood vessels that supply your heart with blood, oxygen and nutrients (coronary arteries) become damaged or diseased. Cholesterol-containing deposits (plaque) in your arteries and inflammation are usually to blame for coronary artery disease. 
 
 When plaque builds up, they narrow your coronary arteries, decreasing blood flow to your heart. Eventually, the decreased blood flow may cause chest pain (angina), shortness of breath, or other coronary artery disease signs and symptoms. A complete blockage can cause a heart attack. 
 
 Because coronary artery disease often develops over decades, you might not notice a problem until you have a significant blockage or a heart attack. But there's plenty you can do to prevent and treat coronary artery disease. A healthy lifestyle can make a big impact. 
 
 Coronary artery disease care at Mayo Clinic ||||| Past studies have associated yo-yo dieting with increased risk of poor heart health. For individuals with pre-existing heart disease, however, new research finds that the health consequences of repeatedly losing and gaining weight may be even more severe. 
 
 
 
 Researchers have found that yo-yo dieting may have serious health implications for people with coronary heart disease. Researchers have found that yo-yo dieting may have serious health implications for people with coronary heart disease. 
 
 Researchers found that people with coronary heart disease who had experienced large fluctuations in weight over an average of 4.7 years were at much higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and death than people who experienced little change in body weight. 
 
 Lead study author Dr. Sripal Bangalore, of the Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York, and colleagues recently reported their results in the New England Journal of Medicine. 
 
 Yo-yo dieting - also known as "weight cycling" or the "yo-yo effect" - is defined as repeated cycles of weight loss and weight gain. 
 
 A number of studies have documented the possible health risks of yo-yo dieting. One study reported by Medical News Today last year, for example, uncovered a link between weight cycling and greater risk of death from heart disease. 
 
 The new research from Dr. Bangalore and colleagues builds on those findings, revealing how yo-yo dieting may impact the health of individuals who have pre-existing coronary heart disease. 
 
 Coronary heart disease (CHD) - also referred to as coronary artery disease - is the most common form of heart disease among men and women in the United States. Each year, the condition kills more than 370,000 people in the country. 
 
 CHD is characterized by atherosclerosis - the buildup of plaque in the coronary arteries, which are those that supply the heart with oxygen-rich blood. This plaque buildup may block the blood supply to the heart, which can lead to angina (severe chest pain) or heart attack. 
 
 Largest weight fluctuations linked to 124 percent more deaths 
 
 For their study, Dr. Bangalore and colleagues analyzed the data of 9,509 men and women with CHD aged between 35 and 75 years. 
 
 As well as CHD, all subjects had high cholesterol levels and a history of other heart problems. Around half of the participants were undergoing intensive cholesterol-lowering therapy. 
 
 Over a median follow-up period of 4.7 years, participants were monitored for changes in body weight, and the researchers looked at whether these changes were associated with poorer outcomes. 
 
 Subjects with the greatest changes in body weight experienced a weight fluctuation of up to 3.9 kilograms (around 8.6 pounds) during follow-up, while those with the smallest body weight changes had weight fluctuations of 0.9 kilograms (around 2 pounds). 
 
 The team found that for individuals who were overweight or obese at study baseline, there were 117 percent more heart attacks, 124 percent more deaths, and 136 percent more strokes among those who experienced the largest changes in body weight, compared with those who experienced the smallest body weight changes. 
 
 Additionally, the researchers found a link between changes in body weight and increased risk of new-onset diabetes. 
 
 These findings remained after accounting for participants' average body weight and the presence of common risk factors for heart disease, the authors note. 
 
 Findings raise concerns about weight fluctuation in people with CHD 
 
 Dr. Bangalore and team say that their study is only observational, so it is unable to prove cause-and-effect between yo-yo dieting and increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and death among people with CHD. 
 
 Additionally, the authors point to a number of limitations. For example, they were unable to pinpoint precisely why subjects lost or gained weight during follow-up. As such, it is possible that pre-existing heart problems led to weight changes. 
 
 Still, the researchers believe that their results warrant further investigation. 
 
 "Our findings suggest that we need to be concerned about weight fluctuation in this group that is already at high risk due to coronary disease. Even though this analysis was not designed to find out the causes of increased risk with body weight fluctuations, we need to examine how we can help Americans keep weight off, rather than having it go up and down." Dr. Sripal Bangalore 
 
 Learn how yo-yo dieting may be triggered by changes in gut microbes.
– Losing weight is one thing, keeping it off quite another. And now researchers are finding that among those with coronary heart disease (CHD)—which the Mayo Clinic reports develops from damaged or diseased blood vessels typically caused by blockage and inflammation—yo-yo dieting may dramatically increase the risk of stroke, heart attack, and death. Reporting in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers say they followed nearly 10,000 men and women with CHD between the ages of 35 and 75 for about five years, monitoring changes in body weight and other health outcomes. The takeaway? "It's important to lose weight, but this data says you have to keep it off," lead researcher Dr. Sripal Bangalore at the New York University School of Medicine tells the New York Times. The highest weight fluctuation was on average 8.6 pounds over five years, while the smallest body weight changes averaged closer to two pounds, reports Medical News Today. Those who were already overweight or obese at the beginning of the study and who experienced the highest level of weight fluctuation experienced 124% more deaths, 136% more strokes, and 117% more heart attacks, meaning these CHD patients were more than twice as likely to suffer these negative outcomes in just a few years than people with CHD whose weight only fluctuated two pounds. This doesn't pinpoint a cause, as pre-existing heart problems could be the culprit, but researchers hope to study this correlation further. (Yo-yo dieting is bad for women's hearts in general.)