Why your beer belly isn't funny

You may like to slap your belly in jest while talking to your peers or walk about proudly thinking it is a mark of excellence but newsflash, you need to get rid of it. Why? Read on.

1.     Heart attack or stroke waiting to happen

Unlike the fat that lies just under your skin, this fat wraps around your internal organs. And this is the same fat that the liver turns into cholesterol and could get into your blood vessels leading to clogging and hardening of the arteries when it accumulates on the walls. This is what causes strokes and heart attacks.

2.     Type 2 Diabetes

This fat causes your blood sugar to rise. This means that more insulin is produced to combat this effect. In the long run, your body cells don’t react in the normal way to insulin, a condition called insulin resistance. If left unchecked, this causes Type 2 diabetes and heart ailments.

3.     Increased cancer risk

Belly fat has been linked to increased risk of colorectal and bowel cancers. The researchers found that while excess visceral fat stimulated the growth of normal, healthy cells it also promoted cancerous change of the cells by releasing a protein called fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2).

4. Sleep apnea

Do you snore in your sleep and wake up in the morning exhausted? Well, you could blame it on your belly fat. Sleep apnea is characterised by periods of breathing stops and starts. It is a potentially serious condition and medical researchers claim that it can be helped by losing the belly fat.

5. Blood pressure

 A study by American Hearts Association showed that even a slight increase of 2.5 kg around the mid-section could increase your blood pressure. This is due to the fat around your body organs.

Motivated to ditch the bottle and embrace some fitness habits?