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Beer bellies key culprit in diabetes

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Beer bellies key culprit in diabetes Susan Ruttan CanWest News Service; Edmonton Journal

Saturday, October 22, 2005

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EDMONTON - Type 2 diabetes could nearly be wiped out in Canada if Canadians got rid of their beer bellies, a Quebec obesity expert says.

"If there was no abdominal obesity in Canada you could reduce type 2 diabetes by 80 per cent," Jean-Pierre Despres said in an interview.

So dangerous is abdominal fat that doctors need to regularly measure, and record, their patients' waistlines, said Despres, an exercise physiologist who is research director of the Quebec Heart Institute.

"I'm on a crusade right now," he said.

"Every patient in this country, diabetic or not, has got to have a waist measurement put in their medical chart."

People need to start seeing waist size as a health risk equal to high cholesterol and blood pressure levels, he said. In fact, he rates waist size as a higher risk than high cholesterol.

Despres brought that message in a keynote speech Friday to delegates at the annual professional conference of the Canadian Diabetes Association, being held in Edmonton.

In the interview, he explained that fat accumulated on the belly is different from the fat that women struggle to lose off their hips and thighs.

Fat on hips and thighs has a slow metabolism, which makes it hard to lose but also makes it less risky in terms of heart and diabetes problems.

Belly fat has a "very lively metabolism", said Despres. That means it releases fat cells into the bloodstream, and it produces certain harmful hormones that raise the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

The good news about the "lively" belly fat is that it's easier to get rid of than fat on hips and thighs, he said. When a person starts exercising and reducing their food intake, abdominal fat is the first to go.

Men are at a distinct disadvantage in this area, Despres said. They tend to put weight on their bellies, the danger area. Women are more or less protected from abdominal weight gain until after menopause, he said.

A tendency to belly fat also runs in families. If the father has a "spare tire" his sons may well follow the pattern if they're not careful, said Despres.

"You don't want your waistline to go up as you age, that's the bottom line."

Despres's lab has been studying risk factors for diabetes for 20 years.

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