The larger size of professional football players does not increase the risk of atherosclerosis or cardiovascular disease after they retire, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2008.

It was revealed that retired National Football League (NFL) players had a significantly lower prevalence of hypertension, sedentary lifestyles, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome than other men.

From News-Medical.Net:

This study was based on retired players from another era. The football players today are about 50 percent larger than they were a quarter of a century ago, said Levine, who is also professor of internal medicine in the Division of Cardiology at UT Southwestern. “Today, there is a lot of incentive for football players to get as big as possible through eating, extensive training or by using anabolic steroids and growth hormones. The criterion for success is that bigger is better.”

Whether current or recently retired players are at greater risk for cardiovascular events or death merits further study, given the larger body sizes of today’s NFL player, he said.

Alice Y. Chang, M.D., M.S., lead author of the study and assistant professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas remarked that being a professional athlete in the past does not protect men from developing heart diseases later in the life but remaining physically active can help in protecting them against health risks of large body size in former competitive football players.