Abdominal fat is a protein-and-hormone-producing 'organ' causing inflammation that hardens arteries

Fat is an “organ” that produces proteins and hormones that affect metabolism and health. If you find the inflammation mechanism related to abdominal fat, then you will know the cause. What you eat may have a lot to do with why there's so much insulin circulating in your blood to which your body is resistant. So more fat accumulates around your waist, especially at the belly button level while your hips,legs, and arms might remain relatively thin. 

Scientists that look at basics can work on the cure starting at the lowest level of the food chain along with a simple exercise such as walking. One avenue to explore is to find foods that reduce inflammation in people with the genetic tendency to gain weight around the middle. It's the visceral fat around your middle that's the culprit, but even more dangerous is the increasing level of fat around your heart that is more important to reduce than your waist-to-hip ratio.

When researchers studied two proteins that promote inflammation (interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha) and a protein that promotes blood clots (plasminogen activator inhibitor) , they found that both proteins are manufactured by fat tissue and involved in hardening of the ateries. Scientists also looked at two “good” proteins, leptin, which regulates energy metabolism, and adiponectin, which has anti-inflammatory effects.

In fifteen of the study participants without diabetes, higher levels of the “bad” proteins, interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha, were associated with a lower ability to respond to insulin and use glucose. Higher levels of the “good” protein adiponectin were associated with an increased ability to use glucose.

In one study, eight women who had been diagnosed with metabolic syndrome – and had multiple risk factors for heart disease – had levels of adiponectin that were 32 percent lower than the 12 women who didn’t have the disorder. The evidence points to low production of adiponectin in subcutaneous fat is linked with an elevated risk of heart disease.

Is there a natural cure for the genetic tendency to gain weight in the abdomen rather than on the less dangerous places such as the hips and thighs? Is the natural cure with whole foods and walking an hour a day?

To find out, first you’d have to find the foods that change the inflammatory proteins in order to lower the risk of heart disease. You can be sure the drug industry will find a reason to target this genetic variation as a market for new drugs as soon as scientists find out how the proteins are produced.

The point is that if you can find out more about how the proteins are produced, perhaps you can find the right whole foods and even supplements to change the levels without taking new drugs with possible side effects. Is there a particular food, vitamin, oil, or mineral that will help? The only way to start is to look at people who gain weight around the waist and not on their hips or thighs and find out what they did to reduce the fat accumulation as they grew older.

Can exercise reduce abdominal fat? That still leaves the genetic tendency to gain it all back right in the abdomen instead of on the hips or thighs where fat is not so dangerous.

First you have to test whether diet and exercise will affects levels of the proteins. Is there a cure rather than another band-aid drug? Your first step is to realize that weight loss and physical activity can reduce inflammation.

Your next step is to find out how to reduce production of inflammatory proteins by fat tissue. Which vitamin, oil, mineral, or food will reduce the production of proteins whose job is to inflame the insides of arteries and organs?

For more information, you can read research the news about the study and related studies published by the National Institutes of Health. Read the article on Excess Fat Around the Waist. Also see the related articles at Science Daily. 

Modern science recently revealed studies showing that a specific genetic waist-to-hip ratio issue is a predictor of many degenerative, arterial, and age-related ailments. See the Science Daily  article on genetics and abdominal fat. Could the health value of the hourglass waist-to-hip ratio point to valuable hindsight?