Belly fat

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Pediatric home care, assisted living.

A while ago on the MSN webpage, they were talking about belly fat. The article stayed that excess fat in the belly was a bad sign healthwise and that it was more dangerous than excess fat in other areas of the body!!! Anyone know the reason for this? The article did not spell out the reasons why clearly enough?

I know that being overweight is not healthy but the article seemed to stress that the "beer belly" was more dangerous!!!

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There's a correlation between where one puts on fat and heart disease. I think it has to do with the amount of visceral fat surrounding the organs.

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Specializes in L&D, PACU.

If you can get your hands on any magazines for endocrinologists, it's kind of interesting.

Visceral fat, the kind that wraps around your organs, secretes. Yup, it's like a little organ of its own and it secretes several not-healthy things. One is something that exacerbates inflammation (the kind that they're starting to think leads to heart troubles) I was reading articles for it in early 2007, so the info is out there, it just isn't mainstream yet, I think. Peripheral fat doesn't behave the same way, therefore, isn't as dangerous.

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Specializes in CTICU.

Just did an assignment on this - search "abdominal fat" or "truncal fat" for more info. Good measurements to use are the waist circumference (you want

The reasons for increased risk are not exactly clear, but it's definitely linked to increased risks of cardiovascular disease incl. CAD, hypertension and stroke, sleep disordered breathing, diabetes etc.

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Specializes in med-surg, teaching, cardiac, priv. duty.

Yes, people whose excess weight goes to their middle (as opposed to thighs and hips) are at higher risk for cardiovascular problems, diabetes, etc. Do a search for things like "metabolic syndrome X" and "insulin resistance". Women with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) have similar issues.

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