New research out of the Mayo Clinic shows that adults who are considered to have normal body weight have high body fat percentages.  Greater than 20 percent of men and 30% for women and they have heart and metabolic disturbances as well.

For years many have thought that if they are of normal weight then they are safe.  That is not true any more.  Those that are defined by the Body Mass Index (BMI) as normal weight yet have a high percentage of body fat are at risk for heart disease, metabolic syndrome and eventually type 2 diabetes.

“Using the term ‘normal weight obesity’ is really a way of being more precise about the changing conceptualization of obesity, because the real definition of obesity is excess body fat,” says Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, M.D., a cardiologist on the Mayo research team. “Our study demonstrates that even people with normal weight may have excessive body fat, and that these people are at risk for metabolic abnormalities that lead to diabetes and, eventually, to heart disease"

Some new thinking is that we shouldn’t just measure our bodyweight anymore.  We should also measure our belly circumference and analyze our body fat percentage as reliable risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.  We need to measure how much lean body mass we have compared to body fat. 

About the Study

The researchers studied 2,127 adults, equally divided between men and women, who had normal weight (BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 units). The participants’ body composition was assessed, and their risk factors for metabolic and heart disease were collected by the U.S. government in its Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

From this data, researchers found that normal weight obesity appears to be highly prevalent, affecting more than half of patients with a normal weight as defined by the BMI. After controlling for age, sex and race, normal weight obesity subjects had significantly higher rates of several alterations in blood chemistry that can negatively affect heart and metabolism health. These markers of disregulation include:

• Altered blood lipid profile, such as cholesterol
• High leptin, a hormone found in fat and other tissues and is involved in appetite regulation
• Higher rates of metabolic syndrome

To summarize

Nutrition is only one part of the equation to being healhy.  You can follow the Get Rid Of My Gut Diet and lose weight, but it is also very important to build lean muscle as well.  Not only for the simple fact of that is raises your metabolism, but it will also improve the ratio of lean muscle to body fat, which will improve your health status.

A program I recommend that will help you shed fat and put on lean muscle to help change the risk of your health problems is called Afterburn Training.  You can read more about it here

http://www.carbrotationdiet.com/recommends/afterburntraining

Yours in health!

Jayson Hunter RD, CSCS
Get Rid Of My Gut Diet

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