There is an opinion that smoking helps to get rid of excess weight and maintain a slimmer figure. There is some truth in this — Smokers tend to have lower body weight, although not always, since fat accumulation depends on various factors. However, there was no clear data regarding the effect of smoking on the accumulation of fat in the body until recently. Scientists from Denmark decided to correct this gap and found that smoking leads to an increase in fat in certain areas of the body. Moreover, this fat is associated with a high risk of cardiovascular disease, as well as other dangerous diseases such as diabetes, stroke, dementia and other serious health problems.
Scientists have discovered how smoking affects the accumulation of fat in the body
Smoking affects the accumulation of fat in the body
The severe harm to health that smoking causes is beyond any doubt. However, to this day it has not been fully studied. For example, only recently have scientists discovered that smoking reduces brain volume and negatively affects vision. In addition, even earlier scientists found that smoking can provoke schizophrenia.
This time, the staff of the NNF Center for Basic Metabolic Research at the University of Copenhagen decided to find out the connection between smoking and fat accumulation. To do this, they conducted a study based on a set of data obtained from previous studies. In fact, they combined much of the scientists' previous work, including genetic studies to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between fat accumulation and smoking.
In particular, the scientists analyzed genes that are associated with smoking habits and fat distribution. This made it possible to determine how smoking affects the accumulation of fat in the body, and whether it affects it at all. To make the results more accurate, they took into account factors such as alcohol consumption, socio-economic status of study participants, etc.
People who smoke are most often thin, but this does not mean that they do not have problems with being overweight fat
According to the authors themselves, previous works individually did not provide a clear picture and led to confusion. Therefore, their task in the current study was to draw precise conclusions. It is for this reason that they focused their attention on genetic variations. As a result, they found that smoking actually affects fat accumulation. Moreover, this effect does not depend on other factors mentioned above.
Belly fat appears due to smoking
According to the study authors, the work showed that the onset of smoking, as well as smoking throughout life, causes an increase in belly fat. As a result, the waist-to-hip ratio changes. Moreover, the so-called visceral fat accumulates most actively. The authors of the work report this in the journal Addiction.
The study showed that genetic factors associated with smoking are closely associated with an increase in visceral adipose tissue. The peculiarity of this fat is that it is heated between the organs in the abdominal cavity, and not under the skin. This means that a person's stomach can remain flat, or almost flat, but they will have increased mass. The stomach itself, as a rule, becomes harder.
Smoking leads to the accumulation of visceral fat
What is visceral fat and why is he dangerous
Visceral fat is the most dangerous. As mentioned above, it leads to the occurrence of dangerous diseases. The reason is that this fat synthesizes toxins, which cause health problems. Everyone has a small amount of visceral fat, but its presence has no consequences. If it accumulates in large quantities, people begin to develop chronic diseases.
There is no standard for visceral fat. It is believed that it should account for 10% of the total amount of fat in the body, but the less it is, the better. Apparently, smoking affects genes associated with metabolism, as a result of which the ratio of subcutaneous to visceral fat begins to change. The amount of this fat in the body can only be determined using CT or MRI.
Visceral fat accumulates in the abdominal cavity between the organs
Thus, The results of the study once again confirm that smoking is an extremely harmful habit that has no positive aspects. Even weight loss, as it turned out, is only an apparent advantage, which should not stop you on the path to giving up a bad habit.
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Let us remind you that by giving up smoking, you can extend your life. How long exactly? Scientists from Norway and Canada answered the question. You can find out more about this by following the link.