Belly Fat – Is Your Health at Risk?

Dr. Anna Walden, HealthWalk™ Vital Hematology Department

The New Year’s ritual of “weighing in” and vowing to take off the excess pounds now has amplified importance. The recent New England Journal of Medicine (November 12, 2008) reports that people with the most belly fat roughly doubled the risk of dying prematurely compared to people with the least amount of belly fat.

The conventional wisdom of weight loss has been based on the Body Mass Index, BMI, which calculates a score for the height and weight of the person. BMI points of 25 to 29.9 are considered to be overweight and “at risk.” However, the latest findings based on one of the largest and longest health research projects in the world is presenting another picture. Roughly 360,000 Europeans from nine countries between the ages of 25-70 were followed for a period of 10 years. The results showed that persons with large waists had a greater risk of death even if their BMI declared them to be in the “normal” range.

The men with waist size of 40 inches or greater had more than two times the risk of dying as men with a waist of 34 inches or less. The women with a waist of 35 inches or greater had a 79% increase in the risk of death as compared to women with a waist of 28 inches or less.

Waist-to-hip ratio also was an additional predictor of mortality. Waist-to-hip ratio is calculated by measuring the waist at the smallest point and the hips at the widest point, then dividing the waist measurement by the hip measurement. A waist-to-hip ratio of greater than 0.9 for men and 0.8 for women is generally considered high risk.

The study’s lead author, Tobias Pischon, MD, MPH, put it this way:"Our study shows that accumulating excess fat around your middle can put your health at risk even if your weight is normal," he says. "There aren't many simple individual characteristics that can increase a person's risk of premature death to this extent, independent of smoking and drinking."

So, what’s so special about the fat around the middle? We have fat all over our bodies. Well, the abdominal fat actually is comprised of two layers. The first layer is the subcutaneous fat that is the fat which is found under the skin. It is relatively benign. The real culprit is the second layer which is the dense visceral fat found deep in the abdominal cavity. When this layer is increased, the visceral fat causes metabolic syndrome and the fat cells release inflammatory cytokines such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and Interleukin (IL)-6 to create chronic systemic inflammation. In addition, with high visceral fat there is an increase in the production of angiotensin, which can cause blood vessels to constrict and may also cause the blood pressure to increase.

This study is only the latest of many which are bringing this important information to our attention. The Nurse’s Health Study, which followed nearly 45,000 women for 16 years, also found that abdominal obesity was strongly linked to death from cancer and other causes. The authors of this study concluded, “Measures of abdominal adiposity were strongly and positively associated with all-cause CVD [cardiovascular disease] and cancer mortality independently of body mass index. Elevated waist circumference was associated with significantly increased CVD mortality even among normal-weight women.”

Now that we have the message, we seek the solution. The tried and true methods of increased exercise and elimination of excess empty calories are always a good starting point. But we also know that there are no real ways to target fat loss through exercise in a particular part of the body. Crunches won’t insure that the visceral fat will be the fat that the body burns up.

At HealthWalk, we offer you powerful support in your weight loss regime and the challenge of visceral fat through our many leading edge and non-invasive modalities. In Vital Hematology we observe various conditions in the blood which may be complicating and compromising your attempts to rid the excess poundage. Vital Hematology can reveal allergies, arthritis, digestive and respiratory issues, blood pressure, bacteria, candida/yeast/fungi, parasites, viruses and microplasma infections, stress, free radical damage, atherosclerotic plaque, undigested proteins and fats, hormonal imbalances, folic acid, B-12, iron and other deficiencies etc. With a full understanding of what is happening with systemic processes in your body, we can suggest the appropriate solutions, supplements and life style adjustments to bring you back to a healthy balance.

Our Nutritional Counselor is trained in Functional Endocrinology and is prepared to analyze, guide and demystify your quest to attain your ideal weight. HealthWalk’s approach to optimal body weight is by working with you on healthy food choices as well as weight loss concepts, PH balance, gluten-free alternatives, fast easy foods on the go and meal planning based on the results of your Comprehensive Wellness Profile to determine the specifics of your endocrine system and Galvanic Skin Response GSR, assessment of food sensitivities.

On our website we offer a Food Combining Chart to give you an easy guide of how to eat to allow your digestive processes to function most effectively, which will commonly also result in weight loss.

Contact our office so we can support your healthy elimination of belly fat, HealthWalk’s Vital Hematology, Functional Nutritional Consultation and Galvanic Skin Response are tools you can use to attain optimal weight and vibrant health. See you soon!