It is well established and widely known that obesity (even at low levels) is associated with an increased risk of heart disease. The more interesting question is why. I find few of my patients know why. The word Doctor comes from the latin word doctoris which means teacher; but somewhere along the road we stopped teaching our patients.
When I ask patients why obesity causes heart disease, the most common answer patients share with me is that “the fat makes our heart work too hard” or that “the fat clogs up the arteries” and this is just not the case.