Being apple- or pear- shaped irrelevant when it comes to heart risk

For years, pear-shaped people (people who carry fat on their thighs and butt) have been reassured that their “fat” was more a cosmetic blight, than a health risk.

Apple shaped souls on the other hand, faced the ogres of heart disease and diabetes, due to the position of their wobbly bits.

Science is throwing out the fruits

Researchers have found that the real fat problem, is neither on the butt nor the belly, but inside the liver.

This is based on taking a careful look at some obese teenagers. Those with big fat deposits around their liver, were in metabolic trouble, but the ones who had no evidence of extra fat in the liver, were in the clear, in terms of their glucose and cholesterol levels.

The significant thing was metabolic disturbances had nothing to do with body shape, both apples and pears could have large deposits of fat in the liver.

Granted, the apple guys had it more often. After all the liver is located in the belly, so it is a hop skip and jump to the liver from there.

The trouble with liver fat

Fat deposits in the liver (euphemistically referred to as fatty liver), is what brings about the metabolic disaster that underpins both heart disease and diabetes.

Lots of fat in the liver is officially labelled as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by medical professionals. Liver disease is typically associated with a canary yellow appearance, this seldom happens in fatty liver disease. The “disease” manifests itself as metabolic imbalances i.e. heart disease and diabetes.

PS. How many people do you know who have received a diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease ? Not too many, health officials prefer to talk about “heart disease”. I suspect it is a PR excercise, let’s be honest, it is far more appealing to “love” your heart and worry about its well being than the liver.

Fat goes “walk about”

The problem with the liver storing fat (rather than the adipocytes) is that things inside the liver become a little “messy”, upsetting the normal metabolic reactions.

The response of cells, both in the liver and muscle, to insulin is particularly vulnerable to the disruption, leading to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance brings the twin problems of too much insulin plus too much sugar which leads to oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is trouble with a capital T.

Looking under the pear / apple

Unfortunately to “see” fatty liver disease requires fancy medical imaging equipment, not just a human eye ball. If you’ve got the bucks, then having a look under the pear or apple “tree” will cast further light on future health risks. The presence of liver fat should act as a BIG wake up call.

But you really don’t need a diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty acid disease to know that excess weight is BAD. Losing the kilos on the butt and/or the belly, will ultimately translate into to losing the harmful fat in your liver.

So make the commitment to do something. Remember the ultimate secret to losing weight is to get the energy equation right.

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