04/02/2019 / By Janine Acero
A healthy diet can do wonders for your body in a lot of ways. So it isn’t the least bit surprising that it could also help prevent obesity.
Central obesity is a particularly dangerous type of obesity, where excessive fat accumulates in the abdominal area or belly. It is a pivotal component of metabolic syndrome. Researchers from Iran summarized available data regarding the association of a posteriori dietary patterns and central obesity in adults to determine whether a healthy dietary pattern is linked to a reduced risk of central obesity. This study is a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the journal Nutrition Research.
For this meta-analysis, the researchers pored over related studies from MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Google Scholar databases and identified 13 studies, which included 12 cross-sectional studies and one case-control study that reported odds ratios (ORs), relative risks, or hazard ratios for risk of central obesity.
The researchers assessed between-study variance using Cochran Q test and I2. Using subgroup analysis, they determined possible sources of heterogeneity.
The researchers found that the highest category of healthy or prudent dietary patterns resulted in a significant decrease in the risk of central obesity, with an OR of 0.81 (95 percent confidence interval 0.66-0.96). Conversely, their findings showed a higher non-significant increase in the risk of central obesity in the highest category of Western or unhealthy dietary pattern, with an OR of 1.16 (95 percent confidence interval 0.96-1.35).
The researchers also determined that sex, country, and continent were potential sources of heterogeneity.
Based on these findings, the researchers reported that a posteriori healthy dietary pattern may reduce the risk of central obesity, but that there was no significant link between unhealthy dietary patterns and central obesity.
Unwanted belly fat doesn’t just look bad – it’s really bad news for your health. Excessive belly fat has been associated with dreaded health conditions such as Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Belly fat is usually determined by measuring the circumference around your waist. Anything above 102 cm (40 in.) in men and 88 cm (35 in.) in women is known as central or abdominal obesity.
Take control of your health now and start shedding that belly fat with some evidence-based methods:
Learn more about the many ways to combat obesity at FightObesity.news.
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Tagged Under: abdominal obesity, belly fat, central obesity, fight obesity, fitness, healthy diet, metabolic syndrome, obese, prevention, research, science, slender