Fitter Men Carry Less Weight Around Belly

Fitter men are less likely to carry extra pounds around the belly, regardless of how much they weigh, a new study has found.

Fitter men are less likely to carry extra pounds around the belly, regardless of how much they weigh, a new study has found. The findings may help explain some of the benefits of aerobic fitness, since abdominal fat has been linked to an increased risk of diabetes and other health problems. To better evaluate health risks, researchers say it may be a good idea for physicians to measure waist circumference and aerobic fitness in addition to body mass index (BMI), a measure of obesity that takes into account weight and height. Aerobic, or cardiorespiratory, fitness refers to how efficient the heart and lungs process oxygen. Compared with people with a high level of cardiorespiratory fitness, less fit people have a hard time processing oxygen when they exercise, causing them to “get winded” or have trouble breathing. Obesity increases the risk of a long list of health problems, but improved cardiorespiratory fitness seems to reduce some obesity-related health risks. A team led by Dr. Robert Ross of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, speculated differences in abdominal obesity may be involved in some of the fitness-related differences. The researchers measured cardiorespiratory fitness and BMI in nearly 400 white men. They also used CT scans to determine two types of abdominal fat: subcutaneous fat, which is found between the skin and muscle, and visceral fat, which is located deeper within the abdomen. Men with high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness had significantly less of both types of abdominal fat than less fit men, the study found. However, compared with men with the same BMI, men with moderate-to-high aerobic fitness levels had lower waist circumferences than did men with low fitness levels. The results of the study were reported in the February issue of the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Since the health risks of abdominal fat are well established, some of the benefits of aerobic fitness may stem from its effect on fat in the belly, the researchers suggest. Whether the results would hold true for women and for men of other races needs to be confirmed in future studies, according to the researchers. Based on the study findings, the researchers say it may be “misleading” to rely on BMI alone to determine a person’s health risk. Measuring waist circumference and cardiorespiratory fitness as well may “substantially improve” the ability to identify people who are at high health risk, according to the report. But Ross and his colleagues add that the results do not mean that people must lose weight around the waist to benefit from exercise. They point out that regular physical activity is known to provide a variety of health benefits regardless of whether a person loses weight in the tummy. (SOURCE: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Reuters Health, March 2004)