Asthma and "Belly Fat" Linked

A new study has linked asthma to central obesity, commonly known as "belly fat". Studies show that those with more centralized weight around the belly are more likely to develop lung problems.

The findings were presented at the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress in Amsterdam. They showed central obesity as a risk factor for asthma. In the past, excess abdominal fat has been linked with a number of other health problems, including diabetes and heart disease. This new link with lung disease is a more recent discovery.

Previous studies have managed to find a link between asthma and the body mass index, or BMI, which is a marker for overall obesity. The new study analyzed weight circumference to see whether or not obesity could contribute to the risk of asthma. The research is one of the first studies to examine the correlation between central obesity and lung disorders. It combined the effect of central and overall obesity on incident asthma in adults.

According to the results, people who were centrally obese but not overall obese, were about 1.44 times more likely to develop asthma. People who were both centrally obese and overall obese were 1.8 times more likely to develop asthma.

According to Ben Brumpton, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, "Asthma can affect people of all sizes, but our study has highlighted both the individual and combined effect of central obesity and overall obesity on asthma development. Both these measures have an individual impact on asthma and an additive effect when they are combined."

He continued, "It is not yet clear why this association exists. Central obesity is closely associated with insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. These factors may play important roles concerning central obesity-related asthma. We will evaluate these factors on the development of asthma in future studies."