Abdominal Obesity And Your Health, From Harvard Men's Health Watch

Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Also Included In: Men's health
Article Date: 08 Jan 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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How much should I weigh?" It's a common question, and an important one. Surprisingly, though, it's actually the wrong question. For health, the issue is not just how much you weigh, but how much of your fat is located in your abdomen, reports the January 2009 issue of Harvard Men's Health Watch.

Abdominal fat comes in two different forms. Some of it is located in the fatty tissue just beneath the skin. This subcutaneous fat behaves like the fat elsewhere in the body; it's no friend to health, but it's no special threat either. Fat inside the abdomen is another story. This visceral fat, which is located around the internal organs, can damage your health.

Scientists originally thought visceral fat was dangerous because it was linked to elevated stress hormones, which raise blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and cardiac risk. A newer explanation relies on the concept of lipotoxicity. Unlike subcutaneous fat, visceral fat cells release their metabolic products directly into the blood, so free fatty acids from visceral fat accumulate in the liver and other organs. This impairs the body's regulation of insulin, blood sugar, and cholesterol and leads to heart problems. A third hypothesis starts with the complex role of fat cells. In addition to hoarding excess energy, fat cells produce a large number of proteins that contribute to metabolic abnormalities, inflammation, and heart disease. These three explanations are not mutually exclusive; all may help account for the hazards of visceral fat.

One way to evaluate body fat is to measure height and weight, then calculate body mass index (BMI). This is now the standard way to diagnose obesity. Another simple method uses the ratio of the waist and hip measurements. But many experts are turning to an even simpler technique: waist circumference. Because it involves one measurement instead of two, it's more accurate and reproducible. And new research suggests that this simple measurement is the best way to tell who is at risk for the serious consequences of obesity.

So, what do you do about abdominal obesity? Harvard Men's Health Watch suggests that you remember the basics. The only way to reduce visceral fat is to lose weight_and the only way to lose weight is to burn up more calories with exercise than you take in from food.

Also in this issue:

- Ten health resolutions
- Fatherhood and prostate cancer risk
- Pharyngitis
- Winter depression

Harvard Men's Health Watch is available from Harvard Health Publications, the publishing division of Harvard Medical School, for $24 per year. Subscribe at http://www.health.harvard.edu/men.

Harvard Medical School