Tummy Fats Can Lead To a Depressive State

There are many different causes and risk factors for depression. Researchers have discovered that excessive belly fat can be added to that list. What’s interesting about this research is that it implies that even if a person loses weight through dieting or other measures it doesn’t help reduce the risk of depression. It’s an interesting theory of why a person continues to be at risk of depression even after losing weight but more research seems to be needed for this.

Accumulating fat around the belly has long been linked to metabolic syndrome, a collection of problems that include high blood pressure, CHOLESTEROL and blood glucose. Recently, metabolic syndrome was linked to a greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia later in life. Now depression has been added to the list of ailments linked to excessive belly fat, and losing weight through dieting doesn’t seem to reverse the problem.

“Weight gain is the major contributor to metabolic syndrome and depression, but we also observed that in many people who are obese, losing weight is not enough to reduce the symptoms of depression,” said An Pan, a nutritionist at the Harvard School of Public Health and one of the authors of the study, which appears in a recent issue of Diabetes Care. “In fact, losing weight by dieting may actually increase Stress and depressive symptoms.”

A better approach, he says, would involve more exercise, which helps the body burn some of the deep fat packed around abdominal organs – the cause of the large belly often carried by people with metabolic syndrome. He encourages those wanting to lose weight to eat a healthy diet and participate in physical activity. Pan also recommends psychiatric counseling for people who are depressed.

The paper found evidence of a vicious cycle – metabolic syndrome contributes to depression, and depression contributes to metabolic syndrome, apparently by causing people to overeat….More at Excess Belly Fat Linked to Depression « FeelGood Natural Health …

While metabolism could be the root cause of depression, the condition could be caused by other issues as well. Having said that, for a variety of health reasons anyone with a large amount of belly fat would benefit from a diet to lose belly fat.

Get to know more about fats and how it brings positive and negative issues to your health and body.