How to lose your beer belly – without giving up the pub (and why a glass of water with your pint can make a difference)

Besides making you a fortune in the pub, a beer belly can also be expensive for your health.

And maybe it just won’t cost you your money: A recent study found that beer bellies can cause brain aging and impaired cognition in middle-aged men.

Those with extra belly weight and with a family history of Alzheimer’s disease were found to have lower brain function.

According to previous research, a beer belly also increases the risk of premature death, even if the rest of your body is slim.

Here, MailOnline looks at ways to reduce your waistline without giving up the pub.

WHAT IS A BEER BELLY?

Although “beer belly” is the most commonly used term, even those who don’t touch a sip of alcohol can get their hands on one.

The belly fat is largely due to common lifestyle choices such as eating fatty foods and not exercising, although it gets its name from the high calorie intake in alcohol.

Philip Chant is director of Bodyscan, a company that uses X-ray technology to measure the ratio of fat, muscle and bone in people’s bodies.

He told The Telegraph: ‘What we call a beer belly is just a big belly. Beer bellies are usually associated with men because men naturally store their fat around the waist, while women are more likely to store it around their hips, buttocks and thighs.

“Beer can definitely be a contributing factor because beer is caloric and excess calories lead to fat deposits, and as men get fatter, they build up that fat around the middle.”

A beer belly is a combination of subcutaneous fat and visceral fat, the latter being more dangerous because it accumulates around your organs.

Chant adds that some people will gain more visceral fat than others because they “don’t have to store a lot of fat before they start storing the visceral fat.”

HOW TO LOSE A BEER BELLY

The Chief Medical Officer’s guidance for both men and women is that it is safest not to regularly drink more than 14 units per week, to keep the health risks of drinking alcohol to a low level.

That’s about 6 medium glasses of wine (175 ml), or 6 pints of 4 percent beer. So you don’t have to give up the drink completely, just drink it in moderation.

If you do drink 14 units, it is advisable to divide this evenly over three days or more.

Another tip is to alternate between alcohol and glasses of water when going out, so you get full faster and drink less.

Low- or no-alcohol options also help reduce your calorie intake and reduce the risk of a beer belly.

A new major study has also shown that eEating up to three servings of kimchi per day can reduce the amount of fat around your waist, potentially reducing the risk of diabetes diabetes mellitus.

Kimchi, a traditional Korean dish made from fermented vegetables such as cabbage, has long been linked to health benefits such as regulating digestion and boosting memory.

A study of more than 100,000 people by researchers at Chung Ang University in South Korea found that men who eat three servings of the dish a day are less likely to be overweight and have less belly fat – the type that is thought to be the most common form of belly fat. risky for type 2 diabetes.

Meanwhile, further research claims that those who don’t get enough sleep every night are more likely to experience abdominal distension, so it’s important to make sure you’re getting enough shut-eye too.

THE RISKS OF A BEER BELLY

Having what’s known as a “beer belly” comes with many health risks, putting you at greater risk for a range of conditions, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Research shows that it increases the risk of premature death, even if the rest of your body is slim.

Researchers looked at data from more than 2.5 million people and found that each additional 4 inches in waist size was associated with an 11 percent higher risk of premature death.

Having extra fat is especially dangerous if it is visceral fat that is found around your vital organs, which increases the risk of stroke and some cancers.

Visceral fat is the most dangerous type and leaks fatty acids into the bloodstream. It’s different from the less dangerous subcutaneous fat that accumulates just beneath the skin’s surface and is responsible for wobbly fat and cellulite.

Research from Harvard also shows that every extra inch on a man’s waist reduces his chances of having a child by almost 10 percent.

An extra two inches in the waist of a normal-weight man – but with a spare tire – reduced his chances by 46 percent.

The figures held up even when other information, including the man’s age and whether he smoked, and the woman’s age and weight, was taken into account.