Everyone has belly fat, even people who have flat stomachs. That’s normal. Fat is an essential part of the human body. But too much belly fat can affect your health in ways that other types of fat don’t.
Some of your fat is right beneath your skin. It’s called subcutaneous fat.
Another type of fat is located deep in your belly. It is found around the heart, lungs, liver, and other organs. This is what scientists call “visceral adipose tissue.” Visceral fat may be a bigger health problem, even for thin people.
You need visceral fat. It provides a cushion around your organs.
But if you have too much, you may be more likely to develop high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, dementia, and cancer, including breast and colon cancer.
The fat doesn’t just sit there. This is the active part of your body, which produces “a lot of bad substances,”
If you gain too much weight, your body begins to store fat in unusual places.
With increasing body weight, there are people whose fat storage areas are very full, so that fat is stored in the organs and around the heart.
What’s Behind Belly Fat?
A person’s weight depends mostly on four things: Calories taken in daily, age, genetics, and calories burned daily.
People who routinely eat and drink more calories than they burn each day are likely to gain weight, including belly fat.
Getting older also makes a difference. People lose muscle as they grow older. And the problem is even worse for those who are physically inactive. Loss of muscle mass reduces the speed at which the body uses calories. This can make it difficult to maintain an ideal, healthy body weight.
Many women notice an increase in belly fat as they get older even if they don’t gain weight. This is most likely caused by low levels of estrogen as estrogen appears to have an effect on the location of fat in the body.
Genes can also contribute to a person’s chance of being overweight or obese. This also plays a role in where the body stores fat.
The best way to find out how much visceral fat you have is to have a CT scan or MRI. However there is a simpler and cheaper way to check.
Take a measuring tape, wrap it around your waist at your belly button, and check your body circumference. Do it while standing, and make sure the tape measure is level.
For the sake of your health, you want your waist to be less than 35 inches if you are a woman, and less than 40 inches if you are a man.
Having a “pear shape” — larger hips and thighs — is considered safer than an “apple shape,” which represents a wider waistline.
What apples versus pears really mean is, if you have more belly fat, it may be an indicator that you have more visceral fat.
Belly Fat is More Than Skin Deep
The problem with belly fat is that it isn’t confined to the padded layer just under the skin. It’s called subcutaneous fat. Belly fat is also visceral fat. And it lies deep in the stomach and surrounds the internal organs.
Regardless of a person’s overall body weight, having a lot of abdominal fat increases the risk of:
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure
- Sleep apnea
- Unhealthy amount of fat in the blood.
- Certain cancers
- High blood sugar and diabetes.
- Fatty liver
- Strokes
- Premature death from any cause
