Belly Fat is Bad Fat

The story on belly fat just got worse. Already linked to a host of medical conditions like Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers, it has now been associated with an increased risk of dementia in old age.

Dementia is an age-related condition that involves the loss of memory and other cognitive functions. In Australia there are currently 227,300 people with dementia and the number is expected to hit 731,000 by 2050 unless there is a medical breakthrough. Alzheimer’s Australia predicts there will be an estimated 57,000 new cases of dementia across the country this year.

New American research has established a link between abdominal fat and the disease. The study of 6,583 adults found that people with the highest amount of abdominal fat between the ages of 40 and 45 were about three times more likely to develop dementia than those with the lowest amount of abdominal fat.

Those involved in the study were considered to be overweight if they had a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 29.9. People who were obese – with a BMI of greater than 30 – and had a large belly in middle age were 3.6 times more likely to develop dementia later in life than those whose weight and gut size was in the healthy range.

Abdominal fat and its association with increased health risks has long concerned Fernwood. The good news is that it can be shed through the combination of a healthy diet and exercise. This was evident in the WOW Challenge where women lost over 40,000cm overall.