Summer is just around the corner, guys. And nothing looks worse than a beer gut hanging over that new Speedo.
But belly fat does more than spoil everyone’s day at the beach. It’s also associated with a variety of adverse health issues and can be a precursor to other problems — elevated blood glucose values, type 2 diabetes, elevated blood pressure and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, for example.
“There’s an increased risk of heart disease with increasing waist circumference or abdominal fat, and increased risk of overall mortality,” warned Dr. Donald Hensrud, the chairman of the division of preventive medicine at the Mayo Clinic and the medical editor in chief of the Mayo Clinic diet.
In other words: Lose the paunch, and you’ll be healthier.
Two kinds of fat
Hensrud explained that there are two types of abdominal fat involved, subcutaneous fat and visceral fat.