As well as setting you back a fortune at the pub, a beer belly can also be costly to your health.
And it just might not cost you your money, a recent study found that beer bellies can cause brain aging and decreased cognition in middle-aged men.
Those carrying extra abdominal 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 shrink your waistline without giving up the pub.
As well as costing you hundreds of pounds down the pub, a beer belly can also be costly to your health
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 acquire one.
Belly fat is largely down to general 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 fat belly. Beer bellies are typically associated with men because men naturally store their fat around the middle, while women are more likely to store it around their hips, buttocks and thighs.
‘Beer can certainly be a contributing factor because beer is high in calories 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, with the latter being more dangerous as it wraps around your organs.
Chant adds that some people will gain more visceral fat than others, as they ‘don’t need to store a lot of fat before they start storing it viscerally’.
Although ‘beer belly’ is the most commonly used term, even those who don’t touch a sip of alcohol can acquire one
HOW TO LOSE A BEER BELLY
The top doctors’ guideline for both men and women is that you are safest not to regularly drink more than 14 units a week, to keep the health risks of drinking alcohol at a low level.
That’s about 6 medium (175ml) glasses of wine or 6 pints of 4 per cent beer. So you don’t have to give up booze completely, just drink it in moderation.
If you drink as much as 14 units, it is recommended that you spread it evenly over three or more days.
Another tip is to alternate between alcohol and glasses of water while you’re out, which means you’ll get full faster and drink less.
Low alcohol or no alcohol options will also help reduce your calorie intake and reduce the risk of a beer belly.
A new large study has also revealed that e.geating up to three servings of kimchi a day can reduce the amount of fat around your middle – potentially reducing the risk of diabetes.
Kimchi, a traditional Korean dish made from fermented vegetables such as cabbage, has long been associated with health benefits such as regulating digestion and enhancing memory.
The GP’s guideline for both men and women is that you are safest not to regularly drink more than 14 units per week, to keep the health risks of drinking alcohol at a low level
Now, a study of more than 100,000 people by researchers from Chung Ang University in South Korea has found that men who eat three servings of the dish a day are less likely to be overweight and have less belly fat – the kind that believed to be most at risk for type 2 diabetes.
Meanwhile, further research claims that those who don’t get enough sleep each night are more likely to suffer from an upset stomach, so it’s important to make sure you get enough shut-eye too.
THE RISK OF A BEER BELLY
Having what is known as a ‘beer belly’ carries many health hazards, putting you at higher risk for a number of conditions including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
It increases the risk of premature death – even if the rest of your body is slim, research shows.
Researchers looked at data from more than 2.5 million people and found that every extra 10 cm of waist size was associated with an 11 percent greater chance of dying prematurely.
Having extra fat is especially dangerous when it’s visceral fat, which is located around your vital organs, increasing the risk of stroke and certain cancers.
Visceral fat is the most dangerous type, leaking fatty acids into the bloodstream. It differs from the less dangerous subcutaneous fat, which accumulates just below the surface of the skin and is responsible for sagging fat and cellulite.
Harvard research also shows that every extra two centimeters on a man’s waist reduced his odds of having a baby by almost 10 percent.
An additional two centimeters on the waist of a normal-weight man – but with a spare tire – reduced his chances by 46 per cent.
The figures stood even when other information, including the man’s age and whether he smoked and the woman’s age and weight, were taken into account.