Love handles: the worry about abdominal fat

Safia is fed up. She is trying to keep up a healthy exercise program but she still seems to be putting on weight around her midriff. She is just entering her forties and it is getting to be a fight to button her  jeans.

Sagarika is three years past her menopause. She is alarmed at how rapidly her waistline is increasing. She wants effective steps to keep that fat off her belly.

Heredity, hormonal changes or aging cause many women to have an increase in abdominal fat, as they grow older. Menopause tips the scale even more. Unfortunately, gaining fat over the abdomen has bad health implications. Abdominal fat is worse than fat over other body areas like the hips, arms and legs.

Why abdominal fat is dangerous

As you age, your metabolism tends to slow down. As less fat is burned off, more of it slowly gets deposited in the wrong places.  Women tend to have an increase in fat deposits as compared to men. Menopause adds its own twist to this- the fat gets deposited over the abdomen. This shift in body fat distribution can be insidious at first but can escalate alarmingly if proper measures are not taken.

Though being overweight has negative health implications, abdominal weight gain is particularly unhealthy. Too much abdominal fat increases the risk of:

• Heart disease
• Breast cancer
• Diabetes
• Metabolic syndrome
• Gallbladder problems
• High blood pressure
• Colorectal cancer

Indians particularly suffer from an increased propensity for metabolic syndrome, which is due to insulin resistance. An increasing waistline is therefore a treacherous health risk.