Here’s another reason to watch your intake of bad fats and refined carbs: research suggests that there may be a link between abdominal fat and dementia. The study, which appears in the March 26th, 2008 online issue of Neurology, found that those in their 40s with the highest amount of abdominal fat were nearly three times more likely to develop dementia in old age than those with the lowest amount of abdominal fat. But researchers also found that you didn’t have to be overweight to be at risk: simply having a large abdomen was enough. How so?

Where we store fat is as critical as how much fat we carry. This is why traditional BMI measurements may not be enough to assess your risk. Researchers in the study used a sagittal abdominal diameter measurement, or the height of the belly when lying down, to measure abdominal fat. Our waist-to-hip ratio is another good indicator.

Far from being stored passively, abdominal fat produces chemicals and hormones that can interfere with the way our organs function, which may explain how it could cause dementia, as well as heart disease, stroke, insulin resistance and diabetes.

Whether you believe fat makes you fat or sugar makes you fat, we should all take a good look at ourselves. If you’re more apple shaped than pear shaped, it’s time to change the way you eat, and, just as important, time to burn some calories.

More on Abdominal Fat

• Fat on the Inside
• E-course on How to Bust Belly Fat by About's Guide to Exercise
• South Beach Diet and Belly Fat from About's Guide to Weight Loss
• Body Fat and Diabetes from About's Guide to Diabetes

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