Abdominal obesity is more harmful than systemic obesity

What is abdominal obesity (apple shape)?

His limbs are slender, his weight is up to standard, but he has a big belly, and his waist is too thick or even exceeds his hip circumference. This body shape looks like an "apple" in appearance and is also vividly called apple obesity. Apple-type obesity is actually called abdominal obesity or central obesity, which means that fat is mainly deposited in the abdominal cavity, manifested by an increase in waist circumference.

An apple-shaped figure is more harmful

BMI, weight/height squared and waist circumference are simple anthropometric measures to assess obesity. However, people often use BMI to measure the degree of obesity, thus ignoring the indicator role of an increase in waist circumference as a health hazard. A man's waist circumference is greater than or equal to 90 centimeters, and a woman's waist circumference is greater than or equal to 85 centimeters can be defined as abdominal obesity. Recent research has found that systemic obesity, which is determined by BMI, and abdominal obesity, which is determined by waist circumference, have different roles in the development of multiple diseases. Among them, abdominal obesity has a higher risk of complications than systemic obesity. People are much greater, which has been confirmed in our research on hypertension and diabetes.

Abdominal obesity can also be said to be intra-abdominal obesity. Intra-abdominal fat is very different from subcutaneous fat. It is harmful and releases more harmful factors than subcutaneous fat, making people more likely to suffer from hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, cholelithiasis, hyperuricemia and other diseases, so the harm is more serious.

Someone observed a group of white women and found that obese people were 3.7 times more likely to develop diabetes than ordinary people, while abdominal obese women were 10.3 times more likely to develop diabetes than ordinary women. A follow-up observation of 2778 subjects by the School of Medicine of Soochow University also found that while some individuals 'BMI decreases, their waist circumference may not decrease significantly or even increase; while while their BMI increases, their waist circumference may also decrease. Therefore, it is a misunderstanding to determine whether a person is obese solely by weight. It is easy to classify people with normal BMI but waist circumference above the normal range as a low-risk group, but in fact these people still have a high risk of disease.

Abdominal obesity is prone to damage internal organs

BMI and waist circumference reflect different types of fat accumulation, with BMI mainly reflecting the total body fat content, and waist circumference mainly reflecting the accumulation of abdominal visceral fat. An increase in visceral fat content or the proportion of visceral fat to total fat is an important factor in health hazards. Visceral fat mainly exists in the abdominal cavity, such as around and inside organs such as the liver, pancreas, stomach, and intestines. When too much visceral fat enters the digestive system, it will cause damage to the liver and other organs, cause fatty liver, and disrupt metabolism., causing diseases such as diabetes. Not only that, visceral fat can also make it difficult to eliminate toxins in the body normally, resulting in a variety of chemicals, causing heart disease; visceral fat can also increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, leading to arterial inflammation. In addition, abdominal fat can also compress the lungs, causing rapid breathing in obese people. The more difficult it is to breathe, the more likely it is to cause insufficient oxygen in the blood stream, which in turn leads to general fatigue, immunity damage, and even hypertension. Many studies use magnetic resonance imaging, MRI and CT techniques to accurately measure the fat content in the human body, verifying that visceral fat content is a better indicator of various chronic diseases and even death than body fat mass.

The body fat distribution of our population is different from that of the Western population, with abdominal obesity dominant. For those whose weight is within the normal range but whose waist circumference has exceeded the normal limit, they still have a high risk of hypertension, diabetes and other diseases, but they are often ignored.

Sitting for a long time makes abdominal obesity more likely

There are many reasons that affect a person's waist circumference, mainly including genetic factors, eating habits, physical activity, sedentary habits, etc. Genetic background is one of the factors that have attracted more attention in recent research. There is a certain family aggregation in the occurrence of obesity. For example, parents with heavier bodies have fatter descendants. This is due to mutations in multiple sites on different chromosomes that directly or indirectly regulate fat metabolism and sugar metabolism, resulting in fat metabolism disorders and continuous accumulation of obesity.

Unhealthy eating habits and lack of physical activity are also one of the causes of abdominal obesity. In addition, sedentary habits are a health risk factor that has gradually attracted attention in recent studies, because sitting for a long time is more likely to lead to increased waist circumference. Our research confirms that sedentary habits can increase the risk of diabetes and hypertension, and regular physical exercise can reduce the risk of these chronic diseases, but only if waist circumference is reduced to normal levels, otherwise it will be difficult for lifestyle improvements to significantly reduce the risk of disease caused by abdominal obesity.

Sedentary habits and lack of physical activity are two different concepts. People with sedentary habits may not lack physical activity. For example, due to professional needs, many people stay seated during work, such as long-distance bus drivers, office typists, etc. Although these people can use the time after work to do moderate physical exercise, this cannot fully compensate for the harm caused to the body by sitting for long periods of time during the day, especially the gradual accumulation of abdominal fat.

The above-mentioned risk factors that lead to increased waist circumference are not independent of each other, but they will also coordinate or restrict each other. For example, a person who eats a high-fat diet and lacks exercise has a significantly higher risk of developing obesity than a person who eats a high-fat diet but has sufficient physical activity.

How does abdominal obesity form?

Fat is an important component of living organisms, so how is intra-abdominal fat formed? If the body needs a rice or two, the body actually eats half a catty, and the excess food is stored in fat cells in the form of energy after the metabolic cycle. But there is a certain limit to this storage. When fat cells store to the limit, they will be deposited in non-fat cells. People often hear of fatty liver is the deposition of fat cells in the liver. In addition to the liver, fat cells may also be deposited in the heart, causing myocardial fat problems; deposited in the pancreas, may cause lipidation of islet cells and diabetes; deposited in the muscles, may cause problems such as insulin resistance and glucose metabolism disorders.

At present, in addition to measuring waist circumference to determine whether waist circumference exceeds the standard, there are three main methods for clinical identification of abdominal obesity: B-ultrasound, CT plain scan, and electrical impedance method. Using low-dose CT plain scan of the abdomen, you can see clearly the amount of intra-abdominal fat. Electrical impedance method is an instrument. Hands and feet hold the handle of the instrument, and current indirectly measures whether body fat belongs to intra-abdominal fat through the limbs. However, these three methods are currently mostly used for scientific research or investigation. They are not routine clinical examination methods and are not suitable for popular screening and physical examination.

Controlling weight is of great significance

There are many reasons that affect the increase of a person's waist circumference, mainly including genetic factors, eating habits, physical activity, sedentary habits, etc. Unhealthy eating habits and lack of physical activity are one of the reasons for abdominal obesity. Clinically, many patients control their weight, which has a very significant positive impact on treatment. In endocrine clinics, many patients with severe diabetes have blood sugar as high as 20mmol/L. After controlling their weight to meet the standard, their blood sugar can remain stable even without taking hypoglycemic drugs. Therefore, for obese patients, losing weight early is of great significance.

Diet to lose weight: total amount control and reasonable combination

The principle of diet weight loss is to control the total calories of food consumed every day. Under the premise of controlling total calories, the diet and nutrition should be balanced, and food exchanges can also be carried out.

Total control means that no matter how many meals you eat a day, the total calories and total calories you eat in a day cannot increase. Eat reasonably on the basis of total amount control, including staple foods, protein, oil, vegetables, fruits, milk, eggs, etc. You cannot eat less today and eat more tomorrow; nor should you eat more at one meal and eat less at the second meal. Some people claim to "don't eat dinner" when losing weight. In fact, they just don't eat the staple food and use fruits, dried fruits, etc. instead of rice. They actually consume more calories than rice.

Food exchange means that food can be exchanged when it contains equal calories. For example, the calories of an apple are about equal to half a tael of grain, and half a tael of rice is eaten in a few bites. The taste is often not satisfying, and it is even like not eating it; but an apple is more likely to feel full after chewing it slowly, and the two can be replaced with each other.

Exercise to lose weight: Strengthen your body in any form

In addition to controlling diet, exercise is also an important way to lose weight. Exercise can increase the body's muscle fiber content, make muscles stronger, and reduce fat content.

Which exercise is the best? Best for rapid weight loss? There are many forms of exercise, and there should be no distinction between "good" and "bad". The principle of exercise is not to stick to any form. It is best if exercise can be interspersed throughout the day, which will be more conducive to blood circulation. If you cannot ensure continuous exercise every day, it is better to exercise for half an hour than not to exercise. The more you exercise, the more fat you will burn. If there is a lot of exercise on a certain day, the dietary intake requirements for that day can be appropriately relaxed and eat more, but you must not overeat and make all your previous efforts to lose weight will be wasted.

In general, exercising for half an hour a day can maintain health; exercising for one hour a day can promote health; and exceeding one hour will enhance your physical fitness.