Photo Courtesy of mattjb

With Thanksgiving about a week away, keep this article in mind when you are thinking about going back for seconds or eating an extra piece of pie.  Excess belly fat has been linked not only to an increased risk of heart disease, strokes, some cancers, diabetes and even age-related dementia, but it has also been linked to premature death.

360,000 Europeans enrolled in this massive health study.  Reasearchers discovered that people with the most belly fat had approximately double the risk of dying as compared to people with the least amount of belly fat.  The risk of death increased with waist circumference.  Individuals with the largest waistbands (greater than 40 inch waists for men and greater than 35 inch waists for women) had approximately twice the risk of premature death as people with the smallest waists (less than 34 inches for men and less than 28 inches for women).  For every 2-inch increase in waist circumference, the chances of death increased by 15%.

An important result of this study is showing that the distribution of body fat affects the risk of premature death more than just being overweight in general.  People who are apple-shaped were at a higher risk of premature death than pear-shaped.  

Lab testing on mice has found that visceral fat, also known as also known as organ fat, intra-abdominal fat or Beer Belly fat, produces more inflammation than fat found in other areas of the body.  Higher inflammation levels are thought to play a key role in heart disease and various other chronic diseases.

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