Beer belly: Researchers find cause – and it’s not alcohol

In Germany, over 46 percent of women and 60 percent of men are overweight. Older people in particular tend to have more body fat. The so-called beer belly is particularly feared in men. Colloquially, this means an accumulation of fat in the abdominal area that is typically firm and spherical.

In addition to lack of exercise and poor nutrition, poor sleep is also considered to be the cause of a beer belly. Now that has one Study confirmed from the USA. A research team compared the health data of more than 5,000 women and men between the ages of 18 and 59. They all took part in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2011 and 2014.

Sleeping less than eight hours increases the risk of a beer belly

The result: According to the researchers, even less than eight hours of sleep had a significantly negative effect. One hour less sleep was associated with an increase of 12.1 grams of visceral fat mass in both men and women. As a reminder, visceral fat is a particularly harmful type of fat that accumulates in the middle of the body. It is considered particularly dangerous because it lies deeper under the skin and envelops internal organs. It is not only responsible for the beer belly, but is also linked to several diseases.

Do you have too much visceral fat in your body? According to the health insurance “AOK” the health risk increases from a circumference of 94 centimeters for men and 80 centimeters for women.

This is why the beer belly (visceral fat) is so dangerous

Specifically, there are the following direct health problems from visceral fat:

• Inflammatory substances are produced that not only damage the blood vessels, but also promote lipid metabolism disorders and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure or heart attacks.
• Substances released, such as fatty acids, also reach the liver directly. There they can influence the production of blood fats.
• Visceral fat is therefore directly related to elevated cholesterol levels.
• Blood sugar levels rise, which increases the risk of diabetes in the long term.
• Visceral adipose tissue also produces hormones that increase appetite.

By the way: The connection between sleep and belly fat has already been suggested by previous studies. An investigation of Mayo Clinic from 2022 showed that lack of sleep led to a 9 percent increase in total abdominal fat and an 11 percent increase in visceral abdominal fat. However, only twelve subjects were tested for this.

It helps with a beer belly

Visceral fat cannot be suctioned out, so lifestyle usually has to be changed accordingly. Specifically in the three areas

• sports and exercise,
• balanced nutrition, for example through the so-called Mediterranean diet and
• enough sleep.

Even if it is not considered the main cause, beer and alcohol also play a role. Because alcohol has a lot of calories. For comparison: a bottle of beer (0.5 liters) contains on average about 215 kilocalories, as much as 50 grams of Gouda. If you want to lose weight, you should therefore avoid alcohol as much as possible.