AARP Bulletin - July/August 2012

between a large waist and a higher risk of death—even among people who aren’t overweight. In fact, researchers now say your waist size—which generally reflects the amount of visceral fat you carry— may be a better predictor of disease than your BMI (body mass index).

“People like to draw this analogy to real estate. It’s location, location, location that matters,” and that goes for fat, too, says Philipp Scherer, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

The body runs on energy supplied by food. Eat too much and the body stores excess calories in the form of fat. Until recently, scientists thought fat cells were simply storage units. But researchers now consider visceral fat an active organ, like the liver or pancreas. “Our views of fat have changed over the last 15 years,” says Scherer.

Fast Facts About Belly Fat

1. Belly fat is the most dangerous fat on your body, linked to diabetes, stroke, heart disease and cancer.

2. For people over age 50, belly fat is often the easiest fat to lose.

3. Crunches and sit-ups don’t work.

4. Diet and exercise together do work.

5. Danger zone: 35-inch or larger waist for women, 40- inch or larger for men.

Visceral fat actually se- cretes hormones and lipids—such as triglycerides—that are harmful to the body, says David Cummings, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of Washington Medical School. It impairs the body’s ability to use insulin, increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes. And it triggers inflammation that can cause heart disease. Cummings says women’s risk of heart disease rises after menopause to the level of men’s because that’s when women begin to accumulate belly fat.

There’s also strong evidence that visceral fat may cause colon cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Moreover, this dangerous fat is associated with a higher risk of rectal, pancreatic, endometrial and postmenopausal breast cancer. The connection between belly fat and cancer is not well understood, but scientists think excess fat may boost levels of insulin and estrogen, among other hormones, triggering the growth of abnormal cells. Recent studies also have linked belly fat to poor brain health.

So how do you lose belly fat? Experts say there is no magic formula, but it can be done, and it’s not as difficult as you might think. When you use the classic combination of diet and exercise, visceral fat is often the first to go.

Workout videos and glossy magazines promise that crunches, sit-ups and other abdominal exercises will help banish belly fat. Not so, says Colleen Doyle, director of nutrition and physical activity for the American Cancer Society. These exercises will tone and strengthen abdominal muscles, but they won’t help melt away the fat. “A lot of people say, ‘I’m going to do 1,000 crunches a day,’ but you can’t spot-reduce,” says Doyle, who recommends finding a physical activity that you enjoy and will do regularly—whether it’s a walk, a jog or a tennis match.