While a defined waistline has traditionally been an aesthetic goal for many women, middle-aged females may want to work towards it for their overall health. Weight gain in the abdominal area has been tied to a number of health risks in the past few years, and most recently, to stroke. “Women ages 35 to 54 have higher stroke rates than men of those ages, and this is likely due to increasing rates of abdominal obesity,” says researcher Amytis Towfighi, M.D., an assistant professor of neurology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
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