Abdominal fat leads to risk of diabetes - know how

A recent study has found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it.

But still not long enough to beat what they would have, had they been thinner! Man or woman, the health risks of extra weight is real.

India is deemed as the world's capital of diabetes. The diabetic population in the country is close to hitting the alarming mark of 69.9 million by 2025 and 80 million by 2030. Diabetes risk factors include being overweight, especially being fat around the abdomen.

Why is it specifically abdominal fat that we need to be worried about?

Although no excess fat is good, it is the abdominal fat located around the internal organs, that is truly bad for your health.  Fat closest to the organs release metabolic products directly into the part of the body that carries blood straight to the liver. This means that these fat cells pour fatty acids into the liver, pancreas, heart and other organs – cells that are not engineered to store fat. This leads to organ dysfunction, causing improper control of insulin, blood sugar and cholesterol, which increase your risk of chronic diseases.

Image Reference – Health24

Values Reference - WHO paper table 5.2

Do you know how to measure your waist?

Hold one end of the measuring tape starting at your hip bone and take it all the way around your body, passing across and at the level of your navel. Making sure to not hold your breath or making the tape too tight, check the number right after you exhale. That’s your waist circumference.

What causes belly fat?

1. Sugary foods and drinks – many so-called healthier options like cereal, yogurt, fruit juice, etc have hidden sugars in them in the form of high fructose corn syrup
2. Alcohol – suppresses fat burning and excess calories from alcohol are partly stored as belly fat
3. Trans fats – Anything with these ingredients - hydrogenated/modified vegetable oil, margarine, vegetable shortening, coffee creamers
4. Sedentary lifestyle
5. Low protein/ low fiber diet
6. Menopause – estrogen levels drop causing fat to be stored in the abdomen rather than hips and thighs.
7. The wrong gut bacteria - Many chronic metabolic diseases are believed to begin in the gut, and long-term inflammation is thought to be a driving force.
8. - The hormone cortisol, which is secreted in response to stress, may lead to increased abdominal fat.
9. Genetics
10. Insufficient sleep

Just measuring your blood sugar value is not sufficient to know your risk of Diabetes. And most often detecting this at a stage when it has become a problem is already too late to go back in time to reverse it.

HealthVectors helps you put together other vital parameters like your waist circumference, family history to give you a holistic risk assessment so that you can…

Know and manage your risk of Diabetes before it is too late!

Credits: NCBI, Health24, Healthline