Diet The currently prevalent belief is that the immediate cause of obesity is net energy imbalance—the organism consumes more usable calories than it expends, wastes, or discards through elimination. Some studies indicate that visceral adiposity, together with lipid dysregulation and decreased insulin sensitivity, is related to the excessive consumption of fructose. Some evidence shows that in regards to juveniles, when free fructose is present as children's fat cells mature, it makes more of these cells mature into fat cells in the<unk>  region. It also caused both visceral fat and subcutaneous fat to be less sensitive to insulin. These effects were not attenuated when compared to similar glucose consumption. Intake of trans fat from industrial oils has been associated with increased<unk>  in men and increased weight and waist circumference in women. These associations were not attenuated when fat intake and calorie intake was accounted for. Greater meat (processed meat, red meat, and poultry) consumption has also been positively associated with greater weight gain, and specifically<unk> , even when accounting for calories. Conversely, studies suggest that oily fish consumption is negatively associated with total body fat and<unk>  fat distribution even when body mass remains constant. Similarly, increased soy protein consumption is correlated with lower amounts of<unk>  fat in postmenopausal women even when calorie consumption is controlled. Numerous large studies have demonstrated that eating ultraprocessed food has a positive dose-dependent relationship with both<unk>  and general obesity in both men and women. Consuming a diet rich in unprocessed food and minimally processed food is linked with lower obesity risk, lower waist circumference and less chronic disease. These findings are consistent among American, Canadian, Latin American, British, Australian, French, Spaniard, South Korean Chinese, and Sub-Saharan African populations. Obesity plays an important role in the impairment of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism shown in high-carbohydrate diets. It has also been shown that quality protein intake during a 24-hour period and the number of times the essential amino acid threshold of approximately 10 g has been achieved is inversely related to the percentage of central<unk>  fat. Quality protein uptake is defined as the ratio of essential amino acids to daily dietary protein. Visceral fat cells will release their metabolic by-products in the portal circulation, where the blood leads straight to the liver. Thus, the excess of triglycerides and fatty acids created by the visceral fat cells will go into the liver and accumulate there. In the liver, most of it will be stored as fat. This concept is known as 'lipotoxicity'. Alcohol consumption A study has shown that alcohol consumption is directly associated with waist circumference and with a higher risk of<unk>  in men, but not in women. After controlling for energy under-reporting, which have slightly attenuated these associations, it was observed that increasing alcohol consumption significantly increased the risk of exceeding recommended energy intakes in male participants – but not in the small number of female participants (2.13%) with elevated alcohol consumption, even after establishing a lower number of drinks per day to characterize women as consuming a high quantity of alcohol. Further research is needed to determine whether a significant relationship between alcohol consumption and<unk>  exists among women who consume higher amounts of alcohol. A systemic review and meta-analysis failed to find data pointing towards a dose-dependent relationship between beer intake and general obesity or<unk>  at low or moderate intake levels (under ~500 mL/day). However, high beer intake (above ~4 L/wk) appeared to be associated with a higher degree of<unk>  specifically, particularly among men. Other factors Other environmental factors, such as maternal smoking, estrogenic compounds in the diet, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals may be important also. Hypercortisolism, such as in Cushing's syndrome, also leads to central obesity. Many prescription drugs, such as dexamethasone and other steroids, can also have side effects resulting in central obesity, especially in the presence of elevated insulin levels. The prevalence of<unk>  is increasing in Western populations, possibly due to a combination of low physical activity and high-calorie diets, and also in developing countries, where it is associated with the urbanization of populations. Waist measurement (e.g., for BFP standard) is more prone to errors than measuring height and weight (e.g., for BMI standard). It is recommended to use both standards. BMI will illustrate the best estimate of one's total body fatness, while waist measurement gives an estimate of visceral fat and risk of obesity-related disease.
Abdominal obesity
Obesity
Normal weight obesity
Vegetarianism
Risky sexual behavior
Childhood obesity
Body mass index
Dry sex