Budging that belly Let’s blast dangerous abdominal fat

A bulging waistline is more than a vanity issue – those extra centimetres can have a major impact on your longterm health. So what can you do to target and trim down abdominal fat? We sort the facts from the furphies

When you can’t do up the zip up on last year’s pants and your favourite jacket won’t meet across your middle, it’s a sure sign that you’ve put on weight around the waist. While you will have gained weight all over, it’s the extra belly fat that will be worrying your doctor. Why all the fuss? Well, developing abdominal fat is a giveaway sign that you’re accumulating life-threatening visceral fat in your abdomen. Its dangers have spawned an entire industry dedicated to helping us trim our tummies with the aid of ‘miracle’ diets, fat-blasting pills and supplements, plus the latest so-called gut-stripping exercise equipment.

With so many conflicting (and sometimes dubious) claims on how best to lose belly fat, it’s hard to know where to start. But don’t let that put you off – taking action on abdominal fat will bring you major benefits.

Why is belly fat dangerous?

Unlike pinchable fat just beneath your skin surface, deep belly fat – or visceral fat in technical terms – penetrates well into your abdominal cavity and wraps itself around your vital organs. Visceral fat is very metabolically active and secretes harmful chemicals, known as adipocytokines, into the bloodstream. These chemicals have recently been shown to hasten the development of diabetes. They also encourage cardiovascular disease

– a special concern when you have diabetes because your risk of heart problems is already two to four times higher than average, and is further compounded by belly fat and its toxic offspring.

Why does belly fat accumulate?

While some people are more prone to putting on weight around the middle – men and postmenopausal women, in particular – eating too much and exercising too little carries most of the blame for a spreading waistline. Other factors include chemical pollutants, such as cigarettes and alcohol, and emotional distress, such as depression, anxiety, anger and stress, which can drive hormonal changes linked with weight gain around the waist.

A US study found that appleshaped women, that is, those with more abdominal fat, found laboratory challenges more threatening, performed more

poorly on tests, and reported more chronic stress. They also secreted significantly more cortisol, a stress hormone believed to encourage fat formation around the organs. Furthermore, these findings also applied to lean women with high waist-to-hip ratios, indicating that it is localised belly fat, not necessarily overall body fat, that is most harmful to health.

What can you do about it?

The best insight into the secret life of abdominal fat comes via highly sensitive MRI or CT scans, which are able to target and measure visceral fat stores – the upshot being that reduced kilojoule intake, moderate exercise or a combination of both can effectively reduce it.

However, there are certain key factors that do appear to stoke the fat-burning furnace. A US study at Duke University found that exercising at a higher intensity enhanced visceral fat loss and, encouragingly, the more often people exercised, the faster the fat melted away. In another study focused on post-menopausal women with type 2 diabetes, it was found that those adding moderateintensity aerobic exercise and a reduced-kilojoule diet saw a 13 per cent reduction in visceral fat tissue. This is compared to a 7.5 per cent reduction in the group aiming to lose weight by diet alone.

Resistance training – great for bone health and muscle tone – has also been shown to reduce abdominal fat.

And, don’t let stubborn bathroom scales sabotage your efforts. Studies indicate that you can lose fat and build muscle, even with no apparent weight loss. The take-home message: make small, realistic changes in your eating and activity habits, then stick with them for the long haul.