The most dangerous form of body fat is intra-abdominal fat, or visceral fat, which contributes to total belly fat.
If you’re like many Americans, when you were younger you were able to eat with gusto and without a care in the world. Even if you weren’t working out or exercising on a regular basis many of us could seemingly consume whatever, whenever. But now, the days and nights of youth-filled binges are long gone and you may actually exhibit the dreaded “middle-age spread.” Or worse, you are overweight or obese. Today, obesity is the single most important health issue facing the United States. More than one-third of adults and almost 17 percent of children and adolescents are obese. That’s according to new data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, released from The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The excess adiposity (“fatness”) that exists in obese individuals is associated with serious adverse health effects including increased susceptibility to cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. With obesity-related healthcare spending at about 5 to 10 percent of all health care costs, it’s a problem that clearly stresses an already unstable economy.
Obesity is a complex, dynamic process involving genes and hormones; however, the most amendable lifestyle factor is simply our excessive calorie consumption relative to our energy expenditure. Not surprisingly, according to a 2010 consumer survey, 55 percent of us are actively trying to lose weight. But to address the issues of prevention, treatment, and lifestyle factors, you need to understand body fat–what it is, what it does, and how different types of body fat are associated with health and disease. Continue reading
