Yo-yo dieting ‘is MORE risky than staying fat – TREBLING your risk of sudden death’

YO-YO dieting more than trebles the risk of sudden death, a study says.

And slim people whose size goes up and down are in the most danger.

Scientists say gaining and losing weight could be even more risky than staying fat.

It sharply increases the chances of a cardiac arrest caused by abnormal electrical activity in the heart.

And it raises the risk of heart disease, where arteries get clogged with fatty deposits.

The latest research, by researchers at Brown University in Rhode Island, United States, only looked at older women, mostly over 50.

But scientists said it’s likely younger women and men will be affected in the same way.

The findings, presented at a heart disease conference in New Orleans, raise concerns about the influence of TV celebs whose body sizes fluctuate.

TOWIE stars Lauren Goodger, James Argent, Gemma Collins and Sam Faiers have all battled the bulge through yo-yo dieting.

Medics tracked 158,000 post-menopausal women for more than 11 years.

People who yo-yo diet tend to have higher blood pressure, heart rates, cholesterol and blood sugar levels

Dr Somwail Rasla

They found those who lost weight and put it on again were three and a half times more likely to die suddenly from heart abnormalities.

They were also 66 per cent more likely to die from clogged arteries.

Fat women who stayed overweight, or women who piled on the pounds and did not lose it, saw no such increase in risk.

Experts think so-called weight cycling is even more harmful than simply remaining obese.

Researcher Dr Somwail Rasla said: “People who yo-yo diet tend to have higher blood pressure, heart rates, cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

“And these don’t go back down when they lose weight.

“Studies on mice even show it can cause DNA damage which may affect the heart.”

Dr Rasla said the definition of yo-yo dieting is gaining or losing more than ten pounds on four separate occasions and “regardless of the time”.

He said: “That could be four times in a year or four times in a few months.

“These findings are in older women but we can assume they would be the same in younger ones and men too.”

Critic Professor Naveed Sattar, from the University of Glasgow, said: “This study does not change the fact that overall evidence shows the value of intentional weight loss where lifestyle changes lead to beneficial weight change.

“If we look beyond this study at the totality of evidence, it shows us that if women or indeed men try to lose weight intentionally then there is no evidence from trials that this does anything other than good, even if weight gain recurs.

“This new study has limitations.

“It reports that in normal weight women, when weight goes up and down, this is associated with increased risk of heart disease death.

“However, women of normal weight are less likely to be intentionally losing weight than overweight women, so this weight loss in normal weight women is much more likely to be unintentional and could be due to illnesses.”