Take care of the fat from below...
Full hips and buttocks save the body from many diseasesNadezhda Markina, Infox.ru
Obesity is rightly blamed for the development of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.
According to the latest data, it even hits the brain, and mothers with obesity have premature babies. And life expectancy is decreasing. If a person is not actively engaged in sports, then the degree of obesity is assessed by the body mass index (in pathological cases, it goes over 30). But, as it turned out, the distribution of fat mass throughout the body is no less important for health. The accumulation of fat in the waist area (the so-called upper fat), buttocks and thighs (lower fat) affect the body in different ways.
If the upper fat is certainly harmful, then the lower one is rather useful, since it plays an important protective role, says Konstantinos Manolopoulos from the Center for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at Oxford University in the UK. In an article published in the International Journal of Obesity, Manolopolos cites data from 21 independent studies on people of different ages and different body weights, which confirm his point of view.
Good news for the cool-headedLower fat is estimated by the circumference of the buttocks and thighs and the fat mass of the legs.
Data from clinical studies show that this fat distribution is accompanied by the correct lipid profile. That is, a lower content of lipoproteins and low-density cholesterol and a higher content of lipoproteins and high-density cholesterol. As a result, such people have healthier vessels: cholesterol deposits are reduced and the risk of calcified deposits in the aorta is reduced.
Studies also show that lower fat is negatively associated with high blood pressure, plasma glucose levels and is positively associated with insulin sensitivity.
The conclusions are confirmed not only in clinical, but also in population studies on large samples. Thus, a study involving 27 thousand people revealed a link between hip circumference and a lower risk of myocardial infarction. And in another work, it was found that the fuller the hips, the lower the risk of coronary artery disease. In addition, the amount of lower fat is directly proportional to the level of ascorbic acid in the blood plasma – the most important antioxidant that protects blood vessels.
The top and bottom behave differentlyThe authors of the article tried to explain why the amount of upper and lower fat is oppositely related to the most important indicators of health.
The fact is, scientists say, that the upper and lower adipose tissue differ quite a lot in metabolic rate. Women know that if the waist can be adjusted with a few days of diet and exercise, then it is very difficult to get rid of fat deposits on the hips, and it is impossible to get rid of thick legs at all. Fasting for 72 hours, the authors of the article write, increases the breakdown of the upper fat, but does not change it in the lower adipose tissue. But this annoying circumstance for fashionistas is not accidental, but is determined precisely by the special role of lower fat in the body.
Why do full hips protect the body
The amount of fat deposits depends on the rate of fat formation, the rate of its cleavage, as well as on the intensity of blood flow in the tissue. According to all these indicators, the upper fat is in the lead: it accumulates faster and is lost faster. It would seem that this is good. But for this very reason, the upper fat cannot serve as a reliable defender of the body from excess fatty acids.
The main function of adipose tissue is to store energy in the form of fats (triglycerides). This is how fatty acids are utilized, which are formed during the breakdown of dietary fats. But if there are too many of them, the upper subcutaneous adipose tissue cannot cope with them and fat of the internal organs is formed, which does not allow them to work normally (for example, an obese heart). The flow of fatty acids rushes into the liver, muscles, heart and forms fat deposits in cells that are not intended for this at all. Experts define this as lipotoxicity and see it as the cause of heart and vascular disease.
The lower adipose tissue, due to its inertia, forms a reliable and long-term "trap" for fatty acids. So it protects other tissues of the body from lipotoxicity. The lower fat is broken down in the case of prolonged increased energy consumption when the remaining reserves are exhausted.
Payment for a manly appearanceIt is known that men are more prone to fat deposition on the waist, and women are more prone to fat deposition on the hips.
There are both genetic reasons for this (genes responsible for the distribution of fat in the body have been found, and they work differently in men and women), and hormonal ones. In particular, testosterone prevents the deposition of fat according to the "female" type. Therefore, by the way, with a decrease in the level of estrogens caused by menopause, women tend to get fat in the waist area.
And it is no coincidence that men with a predominance of upper fat formation are more susceptible to heart and vascular diseases than women, as long as the distribution of fat does not change in the latter according to the male type due to menopause.
More useful proteins are formed at the bottomAnother mechanism, according to scientists, is associated with the formation of hormonal proteins of adipose tissue – adipokines.
These include leptin, the most important hormone of carbohydrate-fat metabolism, as well as adiponectin. It has been shown that the level of leptin in the blood correlates with the fat mass of the legs and hip circumference and negatively correlates with the waist-hip ratio. By the way, women have more of it than men. The same pattern holds true for adiponectin. Its higher content is accompanied by a better lipid profile and greater sensitivity to insulin.
The authors of the article believe that the cells of the lower adipose tissue synthesize more useful hormonal proteins and at the same time less other proteins that cause inflammation — an indispensable attribute of pathological processes in the vessels.
Losing forms can be dangerous for healthFinally, scientists provide data on what happens with a sharp loss of fat mass in the lower part of the body.
This happens with the so—called Cushing's syndrome, which is caused by an excess of stress hormones - glucocorticoids and is accompanied by a redistribution of fat from the bottom up. As a result, serious metabolic disorders occur.
Another example is various kinds of lipodystrophy, loss of fat mass, which may be hereditary or acquired. One form of lipodystrophy, in which the mass is sharply lost on the hips and legs, causes a violation of the lipid profile, insensitivity to insulin, increased pressure, accumulation of fat in the liver, pancreas and muscles. Another form of the disease, when patients lose weight dramatically face and upper body, does not cause such complications.
So, according to Konstantinos Manolopolos and his colleagues, the distribution of fat mass is the most important indicator of health. And although women do not like full hips and legs, they protect the body from many troubles.
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13.01.2010