Love Handles Put the Squeeze on Lungs

Lose weight and you’ll breathe easier. So say investigators from the University of Arizona who, in their recent study of more than 120,000 people in France, found an association not only between belly fat and diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, but also belly fat and increased breathing problems.

In the study, waist measurements larger than 35 inches and 40 inches for women and men respectively, were strongly tied to decreased lung function, regardless of other complicating factors that affect the lungs such as overall obesity and smoking. Even people who were not technically considered obese but still had an extra layer around the middle were at significant risk for breathing troubles. And the reasons go beyond the mere fact that a bulging belly presses down on the diaphragm making it more challenging for the lungs to expand and take a breath. Abdominal fat seems to release inflammatory chemicals into the blood stream which have been strongly linked to both heart and lung disease. The correlation is so definite, researchers recommend adding waist measurement tests to standard lung function testing.