Your Neck Size Can Reveal Your Risk for Heart Disease, Stroke, and Diabetes
Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health
Briana Mercola
4.6 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 27 November 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
- A thick neck is more than a cosmetic issue — it's one of the clearest physical signs of metabolic stress, indicating higher risks for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke
- Research shows neck circumference predicts disease risk more accurately than BMI or waist size because it reflects harmful visceral fat stored around vital organs
- Fat around the neck and upper torso releases inflammatory chemicals and stress hormones that disrupt blood sugar, blood pressure, and heart rhythm
- Visible changes in your neck, such as swelling, lumps, bulging veins, or sagging tissue, offer early clues about thyroid dysfunction, heart strain, or oxygen deprivation during sleep
- Tracking your neck size each month is an easy, no-cost way to monitor your metabolic health, helping you take early action before serious conditions develop
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Could a simple tape measure around your neck reveal your risk for heart disease, stroke, or diabetes before your lab tests do? |
| 0:08.2 | Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. |
| 0:11.2 | Stay informed with quick, easy-to-listen summaries of our latest articles, perfect for when you're on the go. |
| 0:16.5 | No reading required. |
| 0:17.8 | Subscribe for free at Mercola.com for the latest health insights. |
| 0:22.0 | Hello and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. I'm Ethan Foster. And today we're |
| 0:27.3 | examining why your neck size can be a direct window into metabolic stress and how tracking it |
| 0:33.1 | can help you act early long before serious problems develop. I'm Alara Sky. |
| 0:39.3 | This conversation focuses on what a thicker neck really signals, what the research shows |
| 0:44.3 | about cardiovascular and diabetes risk, and how visible changes, like swelling, bulging veins, |
| 0:51.3 | or lumps, can point to thyroid strain, sleep apnea, and even heart rhythm |
| 0:56.9 | issues you shouldn't ignore. Let's start with the science. A 222 longitudinal study from Shanghai |
| 1:04.3 | followed 1,435, adults aged 50 to 80 for nearly eight years. Using neck circumference as a simple measure, |
| 1:13.6 | high defined as at least 38.5 centimeters for men and 34.5 centimeters for women. They recorded |
| 1:20.6 | 148 cardiovascular events, including ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular events. |
| 1:26.6 | The pattern was clear. For every one standard deviation increase in necks including ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular events. |
| 1:28.5 | The pattern was clear. |
| 1:32.2 | For every one's standard deviation increase in neck circumference, |
| 1:35.8 | cardiovascular risk rose by about 45%. Comparing high to low categories, |
| 1:39.0 | overall heart disease risk climbed roughly 59% men were hit harder, |
| 1:43.8 | with a 13.3% event incidence versus 8% in women, |
| 1:48.3 | and the signal was strongest for ischemic heart disease specifically. Why would your neck |
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