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Can I Lose Belly Fat Fast?
Clinical research increasingly supports the proposal that too much belly fat (abdominal obesity) increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and more. Fat cells, bunched together as adipose tissue, are like balloons, swelling up when filled with fat. More fat is stored during slowed metabolism, inadequate exercise, and/or overeating, which often occurs at mid-life.
Overall weight loss is the only proven way to fight belly fat. No human studies show that fat cells can be selectively lost without medical procedures.
Some animal experiments suggest that fat cells can be stimulated to die off. Fat cell death can occur in rats and mice treated with drugs that block a specific set of nerves (beta adrenergic nerves) and conjugated linoleic acid, a food supplement. Fat cell death also occurs in cultured fat cells exposed to a protein that induces inflammation (tumor necrosis factor alpha), an ingredient of garlic (ajoene), or an ingredient of green tea, (epigallocatechin). However, obese women treated with green tea extract did not reduce belly fat compared to a control group given a placebo.
None of these studies indicate that an overweight person can specifically remove fat cells from any place in the body using such substances. By the way, devices that shake your hips or abdomen don’t work either.
There is good news: You can start emptying those cell balloons by decreasing fat storage by cutting back on surplus calories in junk foods and snacks, and by increasing your body's need to burn stored fat. This means regularly moving your body through exercise.
References:
Hill, AM, et al. Can EGCG reduce abdominal fat in obese subjects? Journal of the American College of Nutrition 2007; 26:396S-402S.
Li JJ, Huang CJ, Xie D. Antiobesity effects of conjugated linoleic acid, docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid. Molecular Nutrition and Food Research 2008;52(6):631-645.
Mann, T, Tomiyama J, Westling E, et al. Medicare’s Search for Effective Obesity Treatments. Diets are not the answer. American Psychologist 2007;62(3):220-233.
Phelan S, Roberts M, Lang W, and Win, RR. Empirical evaluation of physical activity recommendations for weight control in women. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 2007; 39(10):1832-1836.
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