Obesity is divided into many types. Some people are fat, some people have fat thighs, some people have fat butts, and there is another kind of person who loves fat stomachs. And this phenomenon of fat belly is called "abdominal obesity", also known as "centripetal obesity".
The risk of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and other diseases in abdominal obesity is significantly higher than that in subcutaneous fat obesity and mixed obesity [1]. In addition to this, there are two hazards that you can't think of:
Hazard 1: The bigger the belly, the worse the heart [2].
According to a scientific statement published by the United States Heart Association in Circulation, people with abdominal obesity or excess fat in the middle of the body or around organs have an increased risk of heart disease, even if they are not fat (BMI is within the normal range).
In addition to heart problems, abdominal obesity is also associated with the accumulation of fat around the liver, which often leads to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Hazard 2: The bigger the belly, the smaller the brain [3].
A large-scale population imaging study of more than 9,000 people found a positive correlation between obesity and brain atrophy.
The higher the BMI, the smaller the large gray matter (the brain's information processing center) part
Source: References[2]
And if you are obese and have a large belly, the gray matter part of the brain will shrink even more. This also means...... The bigger the belly, the smaller the brain, and the dumber the person.
Obesity is a chronic disease that can lead to a range of serious health problems. The following questions you may be concerned about can be viewed by clicking on the text below.
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Meng Lingfu is an attending physician in the Department of Endocrinology
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Lilac Doctor Content Team
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Liang Yin, Chief Physician of the Department of Endocrinology
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bibliography
[1] Qu Shen, Lu Hao, Song Yongfeng. Consensus on multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment of obesity based on clinical practice (2021 edition)[J]. Chinese Electronic Journal of Obesity and Metabolic Diseases, 2021, 7(04): 211-226.
[2] Tiffany M. Powell-Wiley et al， Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease：A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association， Circulation (2021). DOI：10.1161/CIR.0000000000000973
[3] Hamer M, Batty GD. Association of body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio with brain structure: UK Biobank study. Neurology. 2019 Feb 5; 92(6):e594-e600. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000006879. Epub 2019 Jan 9. PMID: 30626649; PMCID: PMC8093082.
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