No one likes the appearance of a huge belly. However, what most people don’t realise is the true dangers of belly fat!
Belly fat poses a number of dangerous health risks. Unfortunately, the belly is one of the most susceptible areas where fat begins to accumulate as soon as you begin to gain weight.
A study that was published by The New England Journal of Medicine found that a large waist size actually doubles your risk of dying prematurely – even if your body mass index shows that you have a normal weight.
Needless to say obesity and belly fat go hand in hand. It has been found that one-third of Americans are considered obese – a seriously condition that rises your chance of contracting various heart diseases, stroke, or even cancer.
Belly fat presents the greatest risk to your body because it is stored within the abdominal cavity and then wraps around and sometimes even invades, the important internal organs, like the heart. Belly fat secrets a harmful and inflammatory substance that can contribute to various health problems. It is often known to damage blood vessel linings.
Though belly fat is truly dangerous, hard belly fat, or beer belly as it is more popularly called, is much more dangerous. This is because; hard belly fat has high levels of C-reactive protein, which is a high risk factor for heart diseases.
In addition, it is also believed that alcohol slows down the fat metabolism by more than 30%. The empty calories of beer only go on to add to the harmful effect of belly fat.
Also, if you have more belly fat than fat on your hips, your cells mostly become resistant to insulin, which puts you at high risk for blood pressure, heart attacks, diabetes and other reasons for premature death.
Excess fat in your belly means that you will also have excess fat in the liver and this interferes with the function of removing insulin from bloodstream. This excess insulin will then acts on your brain and make you eat more and may also cause heart attack.
Some of the other risks from belly fat
It has also been found that men and women who have higher percentages of fat are more likely to develop various kinds of cancers, including colon, kidney and breast cancer. The risk of dementia also increases with the increase of belly fat.
The high secretion of lung-damaging inflammatory chemicals from excess belly fat also gives rise to a number of lung problems. Diabetes and migraines are some of the other risks that arise from excess belly fat.
How much is not too much?
In women a waist size of less than 35 inches is ok, while in men, a size of 40 inches or less is ok. Each inch of increase in your waist size, puts your heath risk.
If you are on a weight loss and exercise plan, make sure it targets your belly too.
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