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Do your curves spill over your waistband? Do you have to strain to tie your shoes? Does the mere thought of doing even one belly crunch seem like a pipe dream?
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, chances are you are battling the midsection bulge, and as you age it could get worse — a lot worse.
Visceral fat — sometimes called "belly fat" — is fat stored deep in the abdominal cavity that surrounds internal organs. Researchers have warned us for sometime that it’s the worst kind of extra weight to pack on.
Just think of belly fat as a "Danger Ahead" indicator of approaching disease.
Now a new study, published in the March 6, 2013 Cancer Prevention Research, has reported that belly fat can cause colon cancer.
Previous studies have pegged muffin tops to a laundry list of chronic illnesses, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, dementia (including Alzheimer's disease) and stroke.
Despite any preconceived notion you might have, belly fat isn’t just an inert mass that collects at your belt line.
In fact, experts describe it as an active organ in your body that stirs up and amplifies the response of hormones and inflammatory substances that can cause a chain reaction of chaos throughout the body.
Blood sugars can become imbalanced, fats and clots get into the bloodstream, and cancerous cells can become stimulated to proliferate more rapidly.
Several studies have shown that excess belly fat increases the likelihood of being diagnosed with and dying from many types of cancer such as breast, cervical, colon, uterine, kidney and pancreatic cancer.
However the new research is among the first to “unequivocally demonstrate that belly fat is causally linked to intestinal cancer,” said Derek M. Huffman, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, N.Y. who led the study.
“There has been some skepticism as to whether obesity per se is a bona fide cancer risk factor, rather than the habits that fuel it, including a poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle, Huffman said in a press release.
“Although those other lifestyle choices play a role, we now know belly fat is directly linked to intestinal cancer and removing the fat through surgery or a calorie-restricted diet reduces the likelihood of developing [intestinal] tumors.”
Likewise, some studies have shown that a woman is nearly five times more likely to die prematurely of heart disease if she has a thick waist and high levels of fats in her blood.
Other studies have shown that women with a muffin top are twice as likely to need gallstone surgery, and if your waist is larger than your hips — a condition known as central obesity — your chances of getting pregnant could be significantly reduced, according to a Boston University study.
Men tend to gain weight around the middle from an early age, while menopause tends to trigger belly fat to settle on most women’s waistline.
“Weight gain around your middle is a sign that your levels of cortisol (your stress hormone) are too high and that deadly inflammation is infecting your body,” Dr. Jennifer Landa, a hormone expert and author of "The Sex Drive Solution for Women," told Fox News.
Landa said that having excess belly fat coupled with fatigue, moodiness and poor sleep despite your best efforts at a healthy lifestyle, can signal you have a hormone imbalance, like adrenal fatigue. “Hormone imbalance can be caused by chronic stress but may be corrected with hormone therapy and healthy lifestyle changes.”
Lynette Summerill is an award-winning writer and Scuba enthusiast who lives in San Diego with her husband and two beach loving dogs. In addition to writing about cancer-related issues for EmpowHER, her work has been seen in publications internationally.
Sources:
Is a big belly bad for the brain? National Institute on Aging. Published 1 April 2009.
http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/features/big-belly-bad-brain-examining-body-fats-ties-dementia
Visceral Fat Causally Linked to Intestinal Cancer. Jeremy Moore. American Association for Cancer Research
AND
Adominal Obesity, Independent from Caloric Intake, Accounts for the Development of Intestinal Tumors in Apc1638N/+ Female Mice. Derrick M. Hoffman et al. doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-12-0414 Cancer Prev Res March 2013 6; 177 (free article)
http://cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org/content/6/3/177.full?sid=0ebbe236-b69b-4d0b-92b3-5d7a80c91256
What are the Health risks of Overweight and Obesity? National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NIH).
Access online at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/obe/risks.html
7 Tips to Reduce Belly Fat. Jennifer Landa, Fox News. Published 15 April 2013. Accessed 17 September 2013.
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/04/15/7-tips-to-reduce-belly-fat/#ixzz2fAto2t1F
Central adiposity, regional fat distribution and the risk of cholecystectomy in women. CJ Tsai et al. Gut. 2006 May; 55(5): 708–714.
doi: 10.1136/gut.2005.076133
Abstract at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1856127
Overall and Central Obesity Linked to Delayed Conception in African American Women. Boston University. 21 August 2013.
http://www.bumc.bu.edu/busm/2013/08/21/overall-and-central-obesity-linked-to-delayed-conception-in-african-american-women-according-to-bu-researchers
Reviewed September 24, 2013
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith
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