Struggling With Belly Fat? Prioritizing These Health Factors Can Reduce Your Heart Disease Risk 

There are a number of factors that contribute to a person's risk for heart disease, and belly fat is one of them.

For this study, researchers wanted to know if adhering to a healthy lifestyle could help people modify their waist-to-hip ratio (a measure of abdominal obesity and metabolic health) and risk of coronary heart disease.

Before we get into numbers from the study, as a refresher, excess fat around the waist is linked to a cascade of negative health effects.

As integrative medicine doctor Sara Gottfried, M.D., previously wrote for mindbodygreen, "You create more inflammation and oxidative stress [with excess belly fat], and promote even more fat storage. The result is a vicious cycle of hormonal misfires, symptoms, and disease that will drag you down unless you flip the switch."

Throughout the follow-up median of 13.8 years, there were over 11,500 incidences of coronary heart disease—and a healthy lifestyle proved to be effective in reducing that risk.

Whether you're struggling with stubborn belly fat or you just want to reduce your risk for heart disease, these findings offer five concrete steps you can take to stay healthy.

As the study authors write, "Individuals who have high or medium genetic risk of abdominal obesity but adhere to a healthy lifestyle may have a lower risk of developing coronary heart disease, compared with those who have low genetic risk and an unhealthy lifestyle."