Coronary artery calcification is an early sign of heart disease, common in those with more body fat. Therefore, most often would mean a bad thing for diabetics since cardiovascular complications are a leading cause of death.

However, in type 1 diabetics - especially in women - having more body fat may actually pose an advantage, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences who studied the link between coronary artery calcification and body fat.

...a positive association for all measures of fatness and having any coronary artery calcification, in the two-thirds of patients who had calcification, the relationship reversed so that people with more fat had less severe calcification.

This association also varied by gender. Women with less fat under the skin had more evidence of coronary artery calcification than those with more fat. Thinner men also had more evidence of coronary."

According to Trevor Orchard, M.D., professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH):

"Gaining weight may reflect good or better treatment with insulin therapy, which may partly explain why participants who gained weight over time had lower mortality rates."

The findings however doesn't stand as a firm recommendation for type 1 diabetics to put on more weight, but instead emphasizes a different weight recommendation than the general population having no type 1 diabetes.

These findings have been presented during the 67th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in Chicago.

Source: University of Pittsburgh Schools of Health Sciences