Excessive visceral fat can lead to metabolic syndrome! Nutritionist Pan Fuzi: Stay away from the three major risks and reduce visceral fat

Fat is one of the energy sources of the human body. Fat can be divided into visceral fat and subcutaneous fat. However, visceral fat accumulated in the abdomen will affect the body's metabolism, leading to increased triglyceride concentrations and blood sugar in the blood, resulting in metabolic syndrome, and increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes! Nutritionist Pan Fuzi pointed out that to reduce visceral fat, one must stay away from three major dietary risk factors.

Do you look like you are not fat and your limbs are thin, but your belly is big? Or even if you have been exercising hard, it is still difficult to lose the belly fat! Nutritionist Pan Fuzi from Beitou Health Management Hospital reminds us that what we should pay attention to at this time is not just the problem of external obesity, but we should be careful about excessive "visceral fat"!

Nutritionist Pan Fuzi pointed out that although the Body Mass Index (BMI) is mostly used as a method to assess a healthy body shape, waist circumference management is often neglected. Modern people often have a westernized diet and bad living habits. Excessive waist circumference is a common health problem. It should be noted that the BMI index cannot fully reflect the degree of visceral fat accumulation. According to the National Nutrition and Health Survey from 2017 to 2020, more than 50% of people over the age of 19 have excessive waist circumference.

Excessive visceral fat increases the chance of metabolic diseases

The most easily observable symptom of visceral fat is waist circumference. Excessive visceral fat can lead to abdominal obesity and an increase in waist circumference. When visceral fat is active, it releases free fatty acids, leading to insulin resistance, which increases the chances of developing diabetes and various other metabolic diseases. The Ministry of Health and Welfare also pointed out that studies have shown that when there is too much visceral fat, the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes is 1.44 and 1.56 times that of the general population, respectively.

Excessive visceral fat can lead to abdominal obesity and an increase in waist circumference. When visceral fat is active, it releases free fatty acids, leading to insulin resistance, which increases the chances of developing diabetes and other metabolic diseases.

5 major risk factors and numbers for metabolic syndrome

1. Waist and abdominal obesity: Abnormal values: male waist circumference ≧90cm, female waist circumference ≧80cm.

2. Increased blood pressure: Abnormal values: systolic blood pressure ≧130 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure ≧85 mmHg.

3. Low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol: Abnormal values: <40mg/dL for men and <50mg/dL for women.

4. Increased fasting blood glucose level: Abnormal value: ≧100 mg/dL.

5. Increased triglycerides: Abnormal value: ≧150 mg/dL.

If the waist circumference exceeds the standard size (the standard waist circumference for men should be less than 90cm, about 35 inches, and the standard waist circumference for women should be less than 80cm, about 31 inches), and the blood pressure may be high (systolic blood pressure ≧130mmHg or diastolic blood pressure ≧85mmHg), high fasting blood sugar (fasting blood sugar value ≧100mg/dL), high fasting triglycerides (≧150mg/dL), and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (male <40mg/dL, female <50mg/dL), as long as three or more of the above five factors are met, you are already a member of metabolic syndrome, and your risk of getting diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, heart disease and stroke in the future will be higher than that of the average person.

Reduce your intake of high-sugar foods, especially fructose, because fructose is processed directly by the liver. When sugar enters the liver quickly, it fills the liver with a large amount of free fatty acids, which easily forms visceral fat.

Reduce visceral fat and stay away from 3 major risk factors

Nutritionist Pan Fuzi said that in order to reduce visceral fat, we must look at the main cause of its formation, which mostly comes from abnormal diet. Therefore, stay away from the following three major risk factors. If eating habits do not change, even if you exercise more, the effect of reducing visceral fat will be very limited. include:

1. Fried Foods:

Eating too much fried food can easily lead to excessive free fat in the body, which quickly accumulates around the liver and intestines, thus forming visceral fat.

2. High-sugar foods:

Reduce the intake of high-sugar foods, especially fructose, because fructose is processed directly by the liver. When sugar enters the liver quickly, the liver is filled with a large amount of free fatty acids, which easily forms visceral fat.

3. Drinking habits:

Alcohol will be converted into fat in the liver, which will cause fatty liver; and after alcohol is ingested, it will be metabolized by the liver into acetaldehyde, which accumulates in liver cells and promotes fat synthesis and accumulation.

To find out the visceral fat index, these tests are essential

As visceral fat cannot be assessed by the naked eye, it is recommended that the public include a DEXA dual-energy bone density test in their health check-up, which can detect visceral fat indicators in the body together with whole-body bone density; or use a BIA bioimpedance analyzer to pass a microcurrent through the human body to obtain the body's fat and non-fat content, and measure body composition analysis, such as: overall and local muscle mass, overall and abdominal body fat, minerals and body type, etc.

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