What Is a Beer Belly?
Having a large belly is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and death, but to understand a beer belly (which you can’t blame beer for), you have to look inside it.
Some fat lives right under the skin
Subcutaneous fat (literally means “under the skin”) is found all over your body. Your earlobes are made from fat. This is fat that you can touch and knead. It might be annoying, but it’s not the bad belly fat you were warned about.
Your body stores subcutaneous fat where genetics and hormones suggest it. Women tend to put it more on the buttocks and thighs, men on the belly, but many people have a mix of both, or a pattern that doesn’t go to either extreme. All of this is possible with a normal, healthy body, although you may notice more subcutaneous belly fat if you also have visceral fat.
The fat surrounding your organs is the type to worry about
If you’ve heard that belly fat is bad, stop thinking about love arms and start thinking about what’s inside your belly. The fat that is most associated with health risks is the visceral fat that surrounds your organs. This fat is found inside , behind the muscle wall. If you poke with your belly, you will feel the soft, soft subcutaneous fat, and then you will feel this wall of muscles. Visceral fat bypasses this.
It is this fat that increases your risk (or perhaps signals that you are already at risk for) heart disease, insulin resistance, and chronic inflammatory conditions. This is why waist size is a useful indicator of your health risk . He’s not perfect, but he tells the story better than BMI or total weight.
There are other ways to get a swollen belly
A beer belly can arise for other reasons, and I don’t mean just pregnancy. Certain health conditions cause enlargement of the liver or other organs. One of them, in particular, is associated with alcohol consumption.
Lifelong drinking can lead to liver damage called cirrhosis. In extreme cases, this can lead to ascites , a buildup of fluid in the abdomen. If you have ascites, your doctor may drain the fluid, but this is a serious condition and often indicates the need for a liver transplant.
Otherwise, beer has little to do with the beer belly . If you consume a lot of alcohol, you can consume a lot of calories, which can give you more fat of both types; you may also have other risk factors for heart disease. But you can’t blame beer for a beer belly.