Excess fat around the heart can be dangerous regardless of your weight, research suggests

• Fat around the heart, known as pericardial fat, can double the risk of heart failure, a study found.
• But being lean may not mean you're healthy - even people who aren't obese or overweight can have this type of fat.
• To protect your heart, follow a healthy lifestyle with regular exercise and mostly unprocessed whole foods.

Having excess fat tissue around your heart could double your risk of heart failure, according to a study published June 1 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Researchers from Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, and other universities analyzed data from 6,785 older adult men and women over an average span of 16 years, comparing the level of fat around their hearts with their likelihood of developing heart failure.

They found that a higher amount of pericardial fat - or fat tissue surrounding the heart - was linked to a higher risk of developing heart failure. Women with more pericardial fat were twice as likely to develop heart failure, while men were 50 percent more likely than peers with less pericardial fat to develop heart failure, according to the data.

This was true even after adjusting for other lifestyle factors, such as smoking, alcohol use, and lack of exercise.

You can have fat around the heart even if you aren't obese or overweight

People with obesity aren't the only ones at risk of having risky levels of fat around the heart. Some people had a risky level of internal fat, and developed heart failure, even if they were lean or had a body mass index in the normal range.

Existing evidence suggests obesity can be a risk factor for heart failure. This research sheds light on how fat around the organs can be harmful even to people without obesity, according to Dr. Satish Kenchaiah, lead researcher on the study and a professor at the Icahn School of Medicine.

"We have gone a step further by using imaging technology to show that excess pericardial fat, perhaps due to its location close to the heart muscle, further augments the risk of this potentially fatal condition," Kenchaiah said in a press release.

To avoid the risks of fat around the heart (and other organs), exercise regularly and eat plenty of vegetables

Researchers hope to use this information to find better ways of preventing heart failure.

"Future research in this field should also focus on ways and means, such as eating a heart-healthy diet and staying physically active, to achieve and maintain optimal body weight and reduce and avoid fat deposition around the heart," Kenchaiah said in the press release.

In the meantime, science suggests you can do things right now to reduce your risk.

Exercise is one of the best things you can do for heart health, according to a wealth of evidence. And eating mostly unprocessed whole foods like fruits and veggies can help reduce your overall body fat, including the fat around your organs (visceral fat) and heart. Too many processed foods, laden with preservatives and refined sugar, can increase your risk of heart problems, so reducing the amount of them you eat can protect your heart, too.