Middle-age spread? It isn’t just a big fat joke
Wrinkles and creaking joints are bad enough, but for most people it’s middleage spread that really signals the downward spiral of old age.
It seems an unwritten rule that once you pass your 45th birthday, almost overnight, weight begins to accumulate around your tummy and waistline.
No one is spared – even ectomorphs, naturally skinny types who’ve spent their whole lives eating what they like without gaining weight, start to develop the spare middle tyre.
An increasing amount of evidence shows that midriff fat puts people at a much greater risk of serious health problems.
The worry is “visceral” fat – the fat that sits around the major organs – which has been linked to diabetes and heart disease.
An expanding waistband is often a sign that visceral fat is accumulating in the body.
The Journal Of The American College Of Cardiology published the results of a study carried out of 3,000 people, back in 2007, that suggested that carrying even a small “pot belly” means a high risk of heart problems, even when body weight is in the normal range.
The research showed that just three or four inches around the abdomen is the external sign of a build-up of fat in the arteries, and that those with the biggest waist measurements were twice as likely to have calcium deposits, which form the plaque that hardens the arteries and increases the risk of heart attacks.
Around the menopause when hormone levels change, women end up with a higher proportion of male hormones and not only find that they start to put on weight more easily, usually about a pound a year, but also that their weight distribution changes so that they gather more fat around the waist.
If you want to find out more click on the link below …. there are details of how to measure your waist to check if you are in the “danger” zone
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