Visceral fat: ‘Reduced significantly’ – three drinks to help target the belly fat
Dr Zoe Williams discusses visceral fat on This Morning
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Visceral fat belongs to a network of conditions that can hike your risk of heart disease so reducing the amount you carry is paramount. A person can breach its defences by making sensible dietary decisions including consuming more of any of these three drinks.
Men have a higher tendency to accumulate abdominal visceral fat compared to pre-menopausal women.
This comes as a new study presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and published simultaneously in BMC Medicine, has linked belly fat with risk of fatal prostate cancer.
The research found that every 10cm (3.9 inches) on a man’s waist increased his odds of dying from prostate cancer by 7 percent.
Carrying too much abdominal fat is dire for a number of other health conditions hence the importance of finding ways to lower your belly fat with certain drinks.
Green tea
Research suggests drinking catechin-enriched green tea can significantly reduce belly fat within weeks.
Green tea contains a group of antioxidants called polyphenols, which make up to 30 percent of its dry weight. Most of these are flavanols, commonly known as catechins.
Findings from human studies have found that consuming green tea and green tea extracts may help to reduce body weight and fat, by increasing our bodies’ metabolism and fat oxidisation.
One other study published in the Journal of Functional Foods, investigated the effects of catechin-enriched green tea on Chinese adults with a high proportion of visceral fat.
The research involved 118 Subjects who were randomly assigned to consume daily a beverage containing 609.3mg catechins and 68.7mg caffeine or a control beverage for 12 weeks.
Visceral fat area, body weight and composition were measured at week zero, week eight, and week 12.
The study found the average visceral fat area, body weight, and body fat were reduced “significantly” by catechin-enriched green tea treatment, but these effects were not seen in the control group, the researchers wrote.
Coconut water
Coconut water is low in calories and contains natural enzymes and minerals including potassium, fibre, and protein, which makes it a perfect for weight loss.
It also has various minerals and vitamins that can help replenish the electrolyte in the body.
“Coconut water has less sugar than many sports drinks and much less sugar than sodas and some fruit juices,” says Lilian Cheung, DSc, of Harvard School of Public Health.
He added: “Plain coconut water could be a better choice for adults and kids looking for a beverage that is less sweet.”
Coffee
A study published in the journal Nutrients investigated the effects of daily consumption of coffee enriched in chlorogenic acids (CGA) – micronutrients found in abundance in coffee – on visceral fat in a randomised, double-blind, parallel controlled trial.
Instant coffee was consumed once daily for 12 weeks.
Visceral fat area was analysed at baseline and at four, eight, and 12 weeks, and 142 subjects completed the trial.
The researchers found that visceral fat area, total abdominal fat area, body weight, and waist circumference significantly decreased in the CGA group compared with the control group.
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