Belly fat, or visceral fat is the fat inside the abdominal cavity and surrounding the abdominal organs. Men and women with excessive belly fat has increased risks of life-threatening diabetes, heart disease, and cancers.
What causes belly fat can be broadly classified into lifestyle, hormone disorders and genetic inheritance.
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Lifestyle
Calories provide energy for the body to function properly. Calories from the food we eat and not used to satisfy immediate energy needs of the body is continuously stored as fat in the fat cells. When the balance is tipped by eating too much or using up too little energy, that is, calories in is more than energy out, fat builds up over the whole body, including the belly area.
Eating the wrong food may also increase belly fat. Study at Wake Forest University School of Medicine reported in 2006 that monkeys on diet with trans fat had dramatically more belly fat than monkeys on monounsaturated fat, such as olive oil. All the monkeys were given the same amount of daily calories. The study also showed diets rich in trans fat cause a redistribution of some other body fat to the belly. Trans fat is found in vegetable shortenings, some margarines, crackers, cookies, snack foods and other foods made with or fried in partially hydogenated oils.
Eating late at night is not a factor to what causes belly fat, contrary to popular belief. This myth has been debunked by a study at Oregon National Primate Research Center which reported in 2006 that monkeys who ate most of their food at night were no more likely to gain weight than monkeys who rarely ate at night. However, limiting meals or snacks late at night will help to control overall calorie intake.
Hormone Disorder
Increased exposure to stress (example, lack of sleep) in daily life lead to higher levels of stress hormone cortisol, which in turn causes increase in belly fat. As shown in a Yale study, more belly fat is more likely to lead to over-reaction to further stress, more cortisol, and more belly fat.
Rapid increase in belly fat is one of the symptoms of Cushing’s Syndrome, a disorder caused by high levels of cortisol in the blood, either through steroid treatment of disorders such as asthma and rheumatoid arthritis, or the body’s over-production of cortisol by tumors inside or outside the pituitary-adrenal system.
Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is an appetite stimulating hormone that increases food intake and the proportion of energy stored as fat. A study at the Lawson Health Research Institute reported in 2008 that NPY is also produced by belly fat. The NPY produced replicate fat cell precursor cells, which then change into fat cells. This may lead to a vicious cycle where NPY produced in the brain causes a person to eat more and therefore gain more fat around the belly, and that fat produces more NPY hormone which then leads to even more fat cells.
Genetic Inheritance
Most men tend to store fat in the upper belly and flanks (apple shape), while most women before menopause tend to store fat in the lower belly, lateral thighs, hips and buttocks (pear shape). After menopause, women tend to store more fat in the belly. Nobody has control over where the fat goes. It’s coded in the genes and inherited.
Find out what causes belly fat in your case. Make the necessary lifestyle adjustments (healthy eating and exercise) or follow treatment as advised by medical professionals.
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