Excess belly fat can be dangerous because it surrounds internal organs and puts people at greater risk for developing several kinds of health problems, including heart disease, diabetes and liver problems.
In a study from King’s College London, scientists found that people with high blood pressure take longer and work harder to clear fats from the blood after meals and have higher levels of inflammation after eating.
The research found that this link is in large part due to visceral fat—the fat that wraps around your organs in your belly.
This suggests that reducing belly fat could be particularly important in improving the body’s responses to food in people with high blood pressure.
Previous studies have shown that people with high blood pressure have higher baseline levels of blood fats, insulin and inflammation than people with normal blood pressure, and higher blood fats following a fatty meal.
The present study was the first to investigate and compare responses between the two groups following a nutritionally balanced meal.
The research was part of an ongoing analysis of data collected during the PREDICT study, in which 1,000 participants had their bodies’ responses to food measured over a two-week period.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies about how diets could help lower high blood pressure, and 3 grams of omega-3s a day keep high blood pressure at bay.
For more information about nutrition, please see recent studies that beetroot juice could help reduce blood pressure, and results showing cinnamon could help lower high blood pressure.
The study was conducted by Panayiotis Louca et al and published in Nutrients.
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