November 22, 2024

The Thin Lie: How Smoking Actually Increases Belly Fat

A new research study published today in the scientific journal Addiction has found that both starting smoking cigarettes and life time smoking may increase stomach fat, specifically visceral fat: the unhealthy fat deep inside the abdominal area that is linked to a higher danger of heart illness, stroke, diabetes, and dementia.smoking and Abdominal Fat: A Closer LookSmokers tend to have lower body weights than non-smokers, however they likewise have more abdominal fat, and more abdominal visceral fat.” The researchers figured out that excess stomach fat in smokers was mainly visceral fat by studying how DNA versions connected to cigarette smoking practices and belly fat relate to fat compartments in various parts of the body. The crucial finding is that these hereditary elements are more strongly linked to increased visceral adipose tissue– the deep fat that covers around the stomach organs– than to subcutaneous fat that is stored under the skin.The two hidden European origins studies were big in scale: the smoking cigarettes study looked at 1.2 million individuals who started smoking cigarettes and over 450,000 life time cigarette smokers, and the body fat circulation research study consisted of over 600,000 people.Reference: “Estimating causality between cigarette smoking and abdominal obesity by Mendelian randomization” by Germán D. Carrasquilla, Mario García-Ureña, María J. Romero-Lado and Tuomas O. Kilpeläinen, 20 March 2024, Addiction.DOI: 10.1111/ add.16454.

A new research study released today in the clinical journal Addiction has found that both starting smoking and lifetime cigarette smoking may increase abdominal fat, especially visceral fat: the unhealthy fat deep inside the abdominal area that is linked to a greater risk of heart disease, dementia.smoking, stroke, and diabetes and Abdominal Fat: A Closer LookSmokers tend to have lower body weights than non-smokers, however they also have more stomach fat, and more abdominal visceral fat.” The scientists identified that excess stomach fat in smokers was primarily visceral fat by studying how DNA variants linked to smoking cigarettes habits and tummy fat relate to fat compartments in different parts of the body. The key finding is that these genetic factors are more strongly linked to increased visceral adipose tissue– the deep fat that covers around the abdominal organs– than to subcutaneous fat that is saved under the skin.The two hidden European ancestry research studies were big in scale: the cigarette smoking research study looked at 1.2 million people who started smoking and over 450,000 life time cigarette smokers, and the body fat distribution study included over 600,000 people.Reference: “Estimating causality in between smoking cigarettes and abdominal obesity by Mendelian randomization” by Germán D. Carrasquilla, Mario García-Ureña, María J. Romero-Lado and Tuomas O. Kilpeläinen, 20 March 2024, Addiction.DOI: 10.1111/ include.16454.