Not all fat is bad, it's where you carry it that matters
 

The following news has featured in a number of newspapers in the UK today:



The Times, London, UK
13 October, 2003

Having a big waist can increase your risk of diabetes and heart disease

WATCH your waist, not your weight, a doctor will tell the National Obesity Forum meeting in London today.
It is not total weight but where you carry it that matters most, according to Anthony Barnett, Professor of Medicine at the University of Birmingham, and a leading expert on the links between obesity and diabetes.

Fat around the stomach, a “beer gut” or apple shape, could prove deadly but the same amount of weight carried on the thighs, the pear shape, will be less so.



The reason, only now becoming clear, is that fat cells around the stomach are different from fat cells elsewhere. The unwanted chemicals they pump out can damage the insulin system, raising the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Professor Barnett plans to say that it is time to throw away the bathroom scales and reach for the tape measure. He will say: “Waist measurements can predict the risks of type 2 diabetes and heart disease more accurately than weight.

“Men with waists of more than 40in and women with waist measurements of more than 35in are at an incredibly high risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

“Thicker waistlines may double to quadruple these risks, compared to those with slimmer waistlines. Even a lower waist of 37in in men and 32in in women may significantly raise the risk of either of these diseases, if not both.” Professor Barnett will be a keynote speaker at the conference taking place today and tomorrow.

“We’re reaching the point where if obesity increases at the present rate, within the next ten years some 10 per cent of the population will suffer from diabetes and its related complications,” he will say.

Type 2 diabetes can be caused by insulin resistance, triggered in part by excess weight around the abdomen.

Insulin produced in the pancreas stops working properly in overweight and obese people. The fatter the person, and the larger their waistline, the more resistant to insulin they become.

“The more resistant you are to insulin, the more insulin the body has to produce from the pancreas gland in order to have the same effect,” Professor Barnett believes.

“Eventually the pancreas becomes exhausted and either stops producing as much insulin, or in severe cases, may stop producing insulin altogether.”

Professor Barnett and his colleagues have been in the forefront of the growing understanding that fat cells around the waistline are not simply passive lumps of lard, but are highly active, producing and pumping out proteins and hormones.

In small doses these are necessary but in excess they cause damage not just to the way insulin is used, but also by raising blood pressure and increasing the amount of cholesterol in the bloodstream.

Professor Barnett points out that people aged 40 and over, even of relatively average weight, may double their risks of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease if they gain a stone. “Any weight gain in the 40-65 age group is associated with insulin not working properly in body tissue and muscle.” The solution, according to Professor Barnett, lies in shedding pounds in those who are overweight, and preventing those extra pounds from building up in those of normal weight.

Drug treatments are also being tested. Drugs belonging to the glitazone family, currently given to type 2 diabetes sufferers before they need insulin, are being tested on those at risk of developing the disease, to gauge whether they may be used to prevent, as well as treat the condition.



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspa...1306869,00.html



Similar article on the BBC News site:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3737064.stm

Hmmmm, mine's just under 33 right now.... Yet another reason to take measurements :)

Fat cells are producing hormones and proteins? Oh, so fat cells are now glands? And producing proteins? Is this some other species of human we're not aware of?

These geniuses have determined that the cause of insulin resistance is being fat, not the foods that caused you to get that way. So according to them, all you have to do is lose the waist body fat in any way, and that will eliminate the insulin resistance.

Boy, it must be a blast these days in academia. Being able to get tenure and draw a nice salary for life. And just sit around and make things up--and people believe you because you're a "scientist."

now I see what going on

(((Drug treatments are also being tested)))

Lez

No doubt about it, from now on I'm storing my fat on my buttocks. Anybody got tips on how you can do that? Are there any drugs under development for that?

Hmmm.... I'm a pear, Tom. Its easy to store fat on your buttocks and thighs. You just do it!



Yes, fat cells are hormonally active. New stuff they're finding out.

http://www.google.com/search?source...at+cell+hormone

Here's one of many articles about it.

Before LCing: 48.0/53.0/54.0/34.0 (Chest/Waist/Hips/Thighs)
Since.. LCing: 40.0/33.5/40.0/23.5 (Chest/Waist/Hips/Thighs)

My waist is much better, though I could probably go a few inches smaller. My Hips are much larger though, and I've still got to get rid of the excess fat on my Thighs.

Nancy, you pear-shaped braggert you.

cc, so do you think that just doing lc preferentially reduces the worst fat from our bodies, ie the spare tire? I could see where that might be the case.

I've always heard that targetting exercises to a specific area like the stomach, is not very effective. So I suppose situps would not work in the absence of changes in diet? I hope not, I hate situps.

What I've read is your body gets to choose where you burn the fat from, not you. :p However, exercising a muscle makes the muscle bigger and stronger!

When I commenced low-carbing I noticed something that I had not before on any diet: I lost weight starting at the breastbone and going downward. The first inkling that I was low-carbing is that my bra strap around my torso was loosening up. I was one of those people who packed the fat on in and around my chest (very bad and that's why the stroke at age 46). Low fat dieting didn't remove it like low-carbing has. This gives me yet one more reason as to how beneficial low-carbing really is (as though I needed any more convincing).

Nancy, thank you. I stand corrected.

Red = Waist
Blue = Hips
Orange = Chest
Black = Thighs

BTW, the orange line is slightly misaligned [because I put 4 graphs together.] It should be slightly above the Blue line at the end, not slightly below.

I found the same to be true for me, Hellistile (except the part about the bra loosening :) ). Much of my excess weight was in the chest. I was once down to about 185 lbs on a low fat starvation regimen and I never saw my breastbone nor ribs in the mirror. Now, lcing at 190-195 pounds I can see them.

Insulin makes people put on weight in their abdominal area (apple-shaped). That's why apple-shaped people are almost always insulin resistant -- their bodies have to put out very high levels of insulin to deal with the carbs they eat. By low carbing, and keeping our insulin levels low, we can stop that process and (hopefully) gradually start to lose the apple-shape.