The bigger the belly, the smaller the brain! Obesity is not only harmful to the body, but also to the brain!

The accelerated pace of life, long periods of sitting, coupled with unhealthy lifestyles such as irregular eating and overeating, have led to an increasing number of people who need to lose weight.

Obesity not only affects your body shape, but also has a "critical impact" on your health. What you may not know is that obesity not only increases the risk of coronary heart disease, fatty liver, and diabetes, but can also cause brain tissue atrophy!

Obesity really hurts your brain

A study published in the journal Radiology confirms that obese people may experience brain tissue atrophy in middle age.

Researchers analyzed MRI brain scans of more than 12,000 British adults aged 45 to 76 and found that people with higher body fat often showed differences in brain structure compared to thin people. In certain brain areas, the more body fat there was, the smaller the volume of gray matter (brain tissue containing nerve cells that is responsible for controlling the body's movement and sensation), and the effect was more severe for men [1].

The journal Neurology also published a study showing that there is a positive correlation between obesity and brain atrophy, especially abdominal obesity, which means that the bigger the belly, the smaller the brain!

Test yourself: Should you lose weight?

To judge whether you are fat or not, you cannot just look at the number on the scale, but should understand your physical condition from multiple dimensions.

Body Mass Index (BMI)

The BMI index is an internationally used standard for measuring a person's fatness and health, with different standards for reference groups of different races.

In the "Guidelines for Medical Nutritional Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in China", the criteria for determining BMI (BMI = weight ÷ height²) for adults are: 18.5 ≤ BMI < 23.9 is defined as normal, 24.0 ≤ BMI < 27.9 is defined as overweight, and BMI ≥ 28.0 is defined as obesity[2].

waistline

Waist size is the simplest and most practical indicator to measure the extent of fat accumulation in the abdomen.

The World Health Organization recommends that the waist measurement method is for the person being measured to stand with their feet 25 to 30 cm apart. For ordinary people, the tape measure should be wrapped horizontally around the 0.5 to 1 cm above the navel, while for obese people, the tape measure should be wrapped horizontally around the thickest part of the waist.

Specific standards: men ≥90cm, women ≥85cm, which is visceral fat obesity.

Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR)

WHR is the ratio of waist circumference (the thinnest part above the navel) to hip circumference (the widest part of the buttocks), and is an important indicator for determining abdominal obesity.

Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that a healthy waist-to-hip ratio is ≤0.9 for men and ≤0.85 for women. The higher the waist-to-hip ratio, the higher the health risk.

Body fat percentage

Body fat rate refers to the proportion of body fat weight in the total body mass, also known as body fat percentage, which can reflect the amount of fat in the human body.

The most commonly used judgment standard at present is that if the body fat percentage of men is greater than 20% and the body fat percentage of women is greater than 30%, they need to lose weight.

If you want to lose weight, eat these 5 nutrients first

Many people do not eat rice or meat during weight loss, and only eat boiled vegetables. As a result, the long-term monotonous diet structure causes great harm to the body. To truly lose weight, you must first "eat enough" so that the body has the "strength" to burn excess fat and achieve the goal of weight loss.

protein

The main component of muscle is protein. Sufficient intake of high-quality protein can promote the efficiency of muscle burning fat and improve weight loss results.

Foods rich in high-quality protein in the diet mainly include soybeans and their products, poultry and livestock meat, eggs, milk, etc. If you don’t eat enough, you can choose nutritional supplements rich in high-quality plant protein, lactose-free, and cholesterol-free.

carbohydrate

The metabolism of fat in the body requires the participation of glucose. Insufficient carbohydrate intake will result in the incomplete oxidation of fat, producing toxic ketone bodies, which may cause ketoacidosis.

The energy provided by carbohydrates in the diet should account for more than 50% of the total energy. To enhance satiety, it is recommended to replace refined rice and white flour in the staple food with whole grains such as oats, sweet potatoes, and corn. When choosing oats, you should choose whole oats to retain all the nutrients in the seeds.

Vitamin B group

Most B vitamins are closely related to energy metabolism. They are coenzymes of energy metabolism enzymes. To improve the effect of weight loss, it is necessary to enhance the body's energy metabolism and increase the intake of B vitamins.

You can get B vitamins from whole grains, dairy products, egg yolks, and green leafy vegetables on a daily basis. If the intake is insufficient, you can choose supplements containing multiple B vitamins such as vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B12, niacin, folic acid, etc. The B vitamins work synergistically to promote fat consumption.

Vitamin C

Studies have found that the amount of vitamin C in the blood is directly related to the amount of energy consumed by the body to burn fat, that is, the higher the concentration of vitamin C, the lower the body fat. When choosing a vitamin C supplement, it is recommended to choose natural vitamin C selected from acerola cherry and citrus extracts, which are easier to be absorbed by the body.

Key Minerals

Although the total amount of minerals in the human body is not large, the family is huge, and each member has unique skills. For example, fat burning requires sufficient oxygen, "iron" can ensure the transportation of oxygen; "chromium" can promote muscle utilization of energy substances such as glucose and increase muscle growth; "calcium" helps inhibit fat absorption and synthesis. Due to bad eating habits, modern people rarely get enough minerals through diet. It is recommended to choose nutritional supplements with a balanced ratio and rich in multiple minerals and vitamins to help lose weight.