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Show: October 31, 2010:
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Did You Know?: Why Belly Fat is Bad
Host: Jeremy Shere, PhD
Primary Care segments are presentedby IU Health Physicians.
Did you Know? is presented by Wishard Health Services, becoming Eskenazi Health in 2014.
Some people gain weight around the middle, some lower down, in the thighs. But did you know that upper body fat is potentially worse for you than lower body fat?
Scientists have known that belly fat increases the risk for metabolic disease -- a host of ailments that disrupt metabolism. Lower body fat, meanwhile, lowers the risk for metabolic disease.
To figure out why, Mayo Clinic researchers overfed 28 volunteers a steady diet of candy, ice cream, and other treats, then inspected their fat. They found that weight gain in the upper body happened when existing fat cells expanded. In the lower body, meanwhile, weight gain was due to the creation of more fat cells.
So the scientists suspect that the growth of individual fat cells promotes metabolic disease, while the creation of new fat cells helps prevent it. As for why this is the case ... that will require further studies.
And now you know.
Did You Know is presented by Senior Care at Wishard, answering your questions at
Additional Resources:
- Read more about the Mayo Clinic research on belly fat.
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