If you can’t fit into those skinny jeans because your legs are, shall we say, a little large, try not to sweat it too much. There might be a benefit to those thicker legs — lower blood pressure.

A study at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School found that adults with fatter legs appeared to have a lower risk of high blood pressure than a thinner-legged comparison group. Hypertension is a leading cause of heart disease and stroke.

Investigators examined high blood pressure and fat tissue in the legs of nearly 6,000 adults whose average age was 37. Nearly a quarter of the participants had high blood pressure, defined at greater than 130-over-80. Specialized X-rays were used to measure the fat tissue in volunteers’ legs.

Those with a higher percentage of leg fat were 61% less likely to have the type of high blood pressure where systolic and diastolic pressure are elevated, compared to those with thinner legs. Systolic is the top number in a blood pressure reading, diastolic is the lower number.

The risk was 53% lower for elevated diastolic pressure by itself, and 39% for systolic alone.

The risk was still lower after researchers adjusted for things like age, sex, race, alcohol use and smoking.

Why leg fat might be protective of blood pressure is less than certain. Researchers note that fat stored in different parts of the body acts in different ways. It may have something to do with a type of blood fat called triglycerides, levels of which were lower in those with bigger legs.

As for those among us dealing with thick bellies, there is no similar good news. Thickness at the waist isn’t going to help keep blood pressure down.