We all know stress is bad for us, and now new research finds that when chronic stress is added to the lives of monkeys eating the typical American diet, they gain weight in the most dangerous place: they accumulate fat in the middle. of the body, affectionately known as belly fat.

Not only is fat in this area horrible to look at, it’s known to be a problem, making conditions like blocked arteries and metabolic syndrome that much more likely, according to Carol A. Shively, Ph.D. and his team from Wake Forest University. The research will appear in the next issue of Obesity magazine.

Shively and his team had previously shown how socially stressed monkeys (at the bottom of the hierarchy in the monkey world) block arteries faster than control monkeys fed the same diet but without the stress.

With the latest work, the team wanted to learn more about stress and how something outside of your body seems to turn into a troublesome plaque on the inside of your body.

Female monkeys closely resemble human females in that they are not as likely to suffer from heart disease as males. However, the stressed monkeys that had the dangerous belly fat were just as likely to develop heart disease as male monkeys.

What this says for women is that if you have visceral fat and metabolic syndrome, you virtually eliminate any protection you get from being a woman.

Over the two-year study period, Shively and her colleagues collected a large amount of data on female cynomolgus monkeys, those that were considered stressed and those that were considered stress-free.

The stressed subjects had higher levels of cortisol, known to be a stress hormone, than the non-stressed monkeys. The stressed monkeys also had abnormal menstrual cycles, meaning they were much less likely to ovulate than the unstressed monkeys.

The subjects’ evaluation included a CT scan that identified visceral fat, the medical term for fat in the abdomen that sometimes protrudes (the “beer belly”), although other times this fat is not visible on the outside. Visible or not, abdominal fat wraps around internal organs.

Even compared to the monkeys, who were the same weight, the CT scans showed that the stressed subjects had much more abdominal fat.

When the team examined the animals’ arteries, they also found plaque. Long-term high levels of cortisol are known to cause abdominal fat accumulation and make fat cells throughout the body larger.

This is what’s known as “diseased fat” according to Harold Bays, MD, medical director of the Louisville Center for Metabolic Research and Atherosclerosis who reviewed the study.

What’s more, monkeys with full belly fat had metabolic syndrome, just like people. Metabolic syndrome, a problem for approximately 50 million Americans, is actually a group of risk factors all found in one person that put patients at risk for heart disease, stroke, and other peripheral vascular disorders. as well as type 2 diabetes.

If you’re worried about your own tummy lump, it’s not too late to do something about it.

While fat around the middle of the body is more of a concern than carrying weight in other areas, the good news is that by making real, solid lifestyle changes (forget about “miracle diets” or the latest flattening device) sit-ups) and do some specific abdominal exercises. exercises that can get rid of that unsightly lump in no time.

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