LONDON, March 11 (UPI) -- Obesity presents a serious risk of heart disease no matter where on the body most of a person's excess fat may reside, U.K. researchers say.

Fat concentrated around the waist is no more or less dangerous than when is it evenly distributed around the body, they say.

The finding contradicts some previous studies that had suggested people with large waistlines, or central obesity, were three times more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke than people with more general obesity, Sky News reported Friday.

Some researches had urged that waist measurements replace the Body Mass Index as a measure of obesity.