The Dangers of Getting a Fat Belly

Have you been noticing your belly growing fat? Getting a fat belly is no laughing matter and extremely unhealthy regardless of whether you are a man or woman. This is because a fat belly increases your risk of:

- Heart disease

- Cancer (especially breast and colon cancer)

- Type 2 diabetes

- High blood pressure

- And a host of other problems

When someone puts on weight and is getting a fat belly it appears all the fat is being deposited directly under the skin but this isn't true, in fact a protruding belly is usually the result of fat stored deep inside that gets packed around the organs and pushes the belly out. This type of fat is called visceral (a Latin word that pertains to internal organs) or intra-abdominal fat and it is the most dangerous to your health for two reasons:

First, it is "metabolically active" fat, why this should concern you is because this type more easily releases fat into your bloodstream, which leads to higher cholesterol levels and artery disease.

Second, some belly fat cells produce hormones that can promote insulin resistance, a precursor to Type 2 Diabetes. Others can produce estrogen after a woman reaches menopause, which may increase her risk of breast cancer.

Research is coming out with study after study that reveals the dangers of getting a fat belly. Many factors contribute to getting a fat belly such as heredity, hormonal changes and age-related weight gain but regardless of the cause, belly fat is eliminated in much the same fashion as fat found elsewhere on the body and that means proper diet and exercise.

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