Twice a month, our journalist answers readers’ questions in terms of health and well-being.
Posted at 12:30 p.m.
A high size turn is a signal of potential problems. What you never say is that morphology is not the same for everyone! I am thin, I have an almost exemplary behavior in terms of health, and yet, I cannot reduce my waist tour …
Danielle L.
Several large -scale epidemiological studies have shown it: the waist is a more precise indicator than the body mass index (BMI) to predict the risk of chronic diseases and mortality.
“In all BMI categories, it is a perfectly linear relationship: the higher the waist, the more the risk of mortality increases,” summarizes Professor Jean-Pierre Després, who was very interested in the distribution of body fat in his research.
Professor Després quotes the results of a study by the Mayo clinic in the United States, relating to 650,000 participants followed for nine years. According to the estimate of researchers, the participants in the high waist tour had a decreased life expectancy of five years among men and three years in women, compared to those whose size was the smallest. Interesting fact: in turn equal, the risk of mortality was practically the same in the different categories of BMI. (Note, however, that the more the BMI category increases, the more the participants have a high size.)
Photo Edouard Plante-Fréchette, the press
Jean-Pierre Després, professor in the Kinesiology Department of Laval University and author of the book The active revolution
Visceral obesity (fat inside the abdominal cavity, around organs and muscles) is much more dangerous than “subcutaneous” obesity (that stored under the skin). The fat located in the buttocks and thighs acts a bit like a tank to store the energy of excess food, sums up Jean-Pierre Després. In this sense, she is even protective against diabetes and cardiovascular disease, he said.
Now, for the same size, can the risk vary from person to person, depending on the morphology?
Again, it depends on the distribution of this fat, answers Jean-Pierre Després. Some people have soft bellies, a bit like aprons: this profile is rather associated with subcutaneous fat, he says. Other people have a hard belly, such as a woman in the middle of pregnancy: this is those who are particularly at risk. “Our hospitals are full of it,” says Jean-Pierre Després.
-In his laboratory, the professor tested different indicators to distinguish visceral obesity from subcutaneous obesity. And the most discriminating was also the simplest, he says: it is the level of triglycerides (the most common lipid shape in the body) in the blood.
If your triglycerides are low, if your blood pressure is normal, if your blood sugar is normal, it is not complicated: the waist you have, you don’t want it to increase with age – you want to keep it.
Jean-Pierre Després, professor in the Kinesiology Department of Laval University
People who have less favorable results (predicated, high triglycerides …) have an advantage of reducing their size, “regardless of the weight on the balance,” said Jean-Pierre Després. Studies show that significant benefits can be obtained by reducing its size 4 cm or more thanks to physical exercise and a healthier diet.
Infographic the press
Why do some people have subcutaneous fat and others, visceral fat? The genetic heritage would play a leading role. On the scalable level, visceral fat could also have an advantage, notes Professor Després: it is a reservoir of energy that is easy to mobilize, he says. “But we are no longer hunter-gatherers … If we do not burn energy, the liver will make lipids with. »»
A researcher at the University of Montreal, May Faraj explains that subcutaneous adipose tissue can be healthy, but can also be sick. “Normally, if I eat a fatty meal, after five or six hours, fat is completely used; It will be taken by the adipose and stored tissue, which protects the other organs, she explains. But in someone who has sick adipose tissues, fat can stay for 12 hours, and during these hours, all the tissues will take the fat … “
Physical activity but also the quality of the food – Mediterranean food, in particular – are both associated with a reduction in visceral fat and the waist.
“The weight can be increased with healthy food, which protects the body, but it can also be increased with a lot of sugar, animal fat, alcohol, which will give the profile of diseases and anomalies,” summarizes May Faraj.
Menopause
As abdominal fat is an index of health problems like diabetes, how do you consider it in menopausal women?
L. Turmel
The fall of sex hormones, with menopause, is associated with a change in fat distribution. By losing this hormonal protection, women more easily accumulate visceral fat. “They will develop a profile that will quietly get closer to that of men-the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes increases,” explains Jean-Pierre Després. The beauty of history is that visceral fat is easier to mobilize than that of buttocks and thighs, recalls the researcher, hence the importance, he says, to do physical activity and recalibrate his eating habits at this period of life.
