A serious case of “abdominal adiposity”/Wikimedia Commons
Add COVID-19 to the dangers associated with the “beer belly,” an anatomical feature long associated with increased risks for death.
Doctors in the Netherlands have concluded that a waist size over 40 inches for men or 35 inches for women significantly increases the danger that the pandemic disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus will become severe.
“In contrast to earlier large studies,” they wrote, “hypertension or a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which are common comorbidities among COVID-19 and well-known risk factors for clinical deterioration, were not associated with severe respiratory failure in our cohort.”
Beer bellies, on the other hand, were, and the researchers said their findings should help doctors assess the risk COVID-19 patients face “based on a simple measurement as the waist and hip circumference.”
Not new
The Dutch findings should not come as a big surprise to those who pay attention to personal health. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic a decade ago recognized the beer belly as a better indicator of health risks than body mass index (BMI), the common standard used to identify obesity in the Western world.
Their study was one of the first to question BMI as a health determinant.
“We suspected that the obesity paradox was happening because BMI is not a good measure of body fatness and gives no insight into the distribution of fat,” the clinic quoted Dr. Thais Coutinho, the study’s lead author, saying. “BMI is just a measure of weight in proportion to height. What seems to be more important is how the fat is distributed on the body.”
This is definitely the case with people who contract COVID-19, according to the Dutch, who suggested “several mechanisms may explain the observed relation between abdominal adiposity and respiratory failure.
“First, visceral fat deposits, which are increased in abdominal adiposity, act as a reservoir for viral load promoting an inflammatory response. Augmented visceral fat volume is also associated with an impaired viral shedding. Second, an imbalance in pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory adipokines can cause increased respiratory distress.”
Adiposity is the medical term for a layer of fat. Adipokines are a family of cytokines linked to the now well-known cytokine storms causing death in many who suffer from COVID-19.
Younger at risk
The Dutch, who said their study was the first to look at belly fat dangers, said the increased risks apply across all ages, and to both men and women.
“Similar observations are made in recently published studies analyzing the amount of intra-abdominal fat depositions in patients with COVID-19 (examined with CT imagining),” they added. “However, our results are based on measurement of the waist–hip circumference, which is…a clinically more feasible and non-invasive method to assess abdominal adiposity.
“Overweight ( greater than 50 percent) and obesity (15.9 percent) are highly prevalent in the general Dutch population. Patients presenting with respiratory symptoms at our centre who tested positive for COVID-19 had a higher BMI compared with those without COVID-19. Given that (abdominal) adiposity is a treatable risk factor, in contrast to other risk factors such as age and gender, our results underline the relevance of this topic in COVID-19 research.”
The results also underline the importance of weight control and, coupled with another new study, physical fitness in these pandemic times.
The study noted the high death rates among those of all ages already suffering from other diseases.
“…The case fatality rates (CFR) of patients with CVD, diabetes, hypertension and cancer were 10.5 percent, 7.3 percent, 6 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively, while that of patients without any comorbid condition was only 0.9 percent,” the study reported.
“Our review of the literature indicates that the CFR of this infection is less than 1 percent among patients younger than 50 years of age, while the rates are 1.3 percent, 3.6 percent, 8 percent and up to 14.8 percent among patients in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, respectively.”
Those higher rates of death by age have generally been attributed to the greater likelihood older people will be found suffering from diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and obesity, but those diseases have been steadily growing among those under 50.
“Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in the United States in 2017 based on the 83,564 death certificates in which diabetes was listed as the underlying cause of death,” the association says. “In 2017, (however), diabetes was mentioned as a cause of death in a total of 270,702 (death) certificates.”
And the organization believes that even those more than 270,000 deaths linked to diabetes are underreported, noting that “studies have found that only about 35 percent to 40 percent of people with diabetes who died had diabetes listed anywhere on the death certificate.”
The BMJ study – “Impact of cardiovascular disease and risk factors on fatal outcomes in patients with COVID-19 according to age: a systematic review and meta-analysis” – pointed out that the rise in some of the comorbidities driving up deaths from COVID-19 in people under the age of 50 is not an accident.
“…The prevalence of hypertension and diabetes in young people continues to increase due to obesity caused by a sedentary lifestyle and a processed food diet, which in turn increases the risk of developing CVD,” the study said. “In summary, age itself or age-related diseases act as risk factors in elderly patients, while CVD and its risk factors are associated with a higher mortality rate in younger patients.”
Physical fitness
The sorry physical condition of many in the West has gone little discussed during the pandemic though generally poor fitness is known to reduce immunity to many diseases.
Belly fat was a particular redflag in this area long before COVID-19.
“It’s time to stop being Beercules (and) learn the dangers of a beer belly….”
Her story was headlined “The Naked Truth: 6 Dangers Of Having A Beer Belly.”
COVID-19 can now be added as number seven. Medical Daily listed the other six as increased risks of:
- Metabolic syndrome
- Cardiovascular disease
- Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
- Erectile dysfunction (a problem unique to males)
- Breast cancer in both men and women
- And a variety of obesity-related diseases, including diabetes.
Diet and exercise are the recommended treatments to avoid the beer belly and the risks of associated health problems, but they are not as easy as a vaccine.
On the other hand, the effectiveness of the vaccine for the beer-bellied has not yet been studied, and none of the COVID-19 vaccines are said to 100 percent effective.
And even if they were, those beer bellies are linked to lots of other diseases that can kill.
Categories: News
DPR,
My mom has been voting by mail in OR for years.I have no idea what they do for proof of ID.FOR US,all it would take is matching ID # and perhaps last 4 of SS#.Thats it….
As far as the last election, there has been no verifiable proof given in 50+ court cases,numorous Sec of State certs.Countless recounts, if you can come up with 11 million sham votes, than youll solve a mystery greater than DB Cooper.
Ask yourself, if voting and tallying was done the same way and Potus the Grifter had won, would we still be having this conversation?And if not why?
The only” deep state “operation at work will be the National security agencies, turning there long gaze inward, looking for homegrown terrorists.Way to go ‘ WingNuts.
Heres some light research reading to go with your mood. https://www.lifecourse.com/about/method/the-four-turnings.html
In the meantime I’m going to take monks suggestion and staple a strap to each end of a humpy and use it as a mask.
Dave , Mc . Look a little deeper. Fraud was rampant. States with no id required, states allowing out of state voters , states ignored their own voter laws and allowed illegal law changes,states allowing mail in ballots from the dead , non citizens under age ect. No audit of the electronic machinery used . Repetitive usage of same ballots on video, blocking of legal vote observers. Enough fraud only the blind or purposefully ignorant could miss it . Granted it has been for years just worse this time than usual. Yes we definitely would have this conversation about voter fraud. Regardless of ideology spectrum. There is no democracy without accuracy in voting. Period. The fact congress blocked the audit is enough to say there is something wrong with the tally . If its clean them show all the proof . Lay cards on table . Dont rush the situation and erase the vote proofs on the machines. Hand em over. Yah got nothing to fear but the facts – right ? Now the court excuse is nonsense. None of the courts opened the vote fraud issue. Every one of them found a way to pass the buck . It would take months to verify the counts , signatures and match the ballots to people. The courts didn’t touch it snd they are at fault and put our nation into the bind its in . Look at the facts . At the end of the day you and i and nearly everyone else is on the same team . Democracy matters to us because its inherent to our national identity, government and existence. I would fight just as hard and probably be even more pissed if was prooven trump defrauded the vote . He didn’t. A conglomeration of Republicans and Democrats did . They hate trump and allowed it to happen and then blocked the vote audit and called it un American to question or desire proof and a bipartisan panel . Me thinks they protested to much . The people deserved transparency and a supreme court action. There was none . Thats what created your “ home grown wing nuts” who didn’t receive redress of grievance. The politicians have no one to blame but themselves. Yah a few of the protesters got carried away. Some of them are on video trying to stop the mayhem. To no avail. Acceptable no . American action yes . It’s distinctly our history except none of them were armed and they were pretty casual for a justifiably disgruntled protest group. In this era only a fool has the machines accessible to the internet. A white hat hacker is on video testifying to Congress he had access to the machines at the time of testimony. Only to be brushed asside carelessly. For democracy to survive and be real we need an accurate tally. Be it for your ideas or mine . Its the bedrock of our nation. Im on your side you just don’t know it yet and wont see it until your liberty is gone . Im fighting for you . When they take my liberty they also take yours . A true vote protects and empowers us all . As one goes we go . We are team . We need all ends of thought to be balanced. Inaccurate votes destroy everything we hold dear .
Mr Dave Mc
“…www.lifecourse.com…”
If you’re depending on that, sir, I’ve got some guaranteed 100% accurate voting machines to sell you..
Y,
read up, the two authors wrote there original book in the ’90’s.History rhymes,nothing people do is new under the sun.Cycles have been playing out for thousands of years.They peg the last turning around the time of the 2008 financial crisis.And we might only be half way through, which is disappointing.
I like to keep an open mind,and chew on facts as they present themselves, and hopefully use whatever powers of observation I may possess.As j Keynes once quoted
“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as escaping from old ones.”
“When my information changes,I alter my conclusions.What do you do sir?”
Hello Mr Dave Mc,
Yes, the danger lies not so much in what we don’t know, but in what we think we know but we don’t. I did read a detailed review of the information years ago, and found it very interesting (taken with a grain of salt), but it’s easy to go off the deep end when trying to foretell the future.
ycooper, studied 4 years at North Star Elementary
Y,
Interesting background.Im not interested in predicting the future.Its overrated,or mostly impossible.
At this point in my life,i view it as a range of outcomes,bordered mostly by probabilities.
Flexibility seems important on so many levels.
Carpe’ Diem
Yes of course, spending a year or so to lose the beer bag will end covid. We are now on Medred’s humpy phase of covid, one essay after another about something. Likely will come that wide waisted people are the CAUSE of covid. BUT! people please, only wear masks to make others feel better!
I don’t think you can lose a gut without losing weight all over.
Yes and no.
Since we weigh our bodies in total not as parts, you can’t lose weigh anywhere without losing weight all over, but I don’t think that’s what you meant. I think the question was directed at the issue of losing only the weight around the waist.
And whether you can do that appears to be about genetics. Some people are predisposed to accumulate fat around their waists. Thus, when they lose fat, they lose it there, or more of it there. Others, like me, tend to accumulate it elsewhere.
Like in my big, fat butt.
You’re going to need a passport for some nebulous pathogen that people have a recovery rate of 99.98% for?!
But having any of the following is just fine:
Argentine haemorrhagic fever (Junin virus)
Andes virus infection (hantavirus)
Bolivian haemorrhagic fever (Machupo virus)
Avian influenza A H7N9 and H5N1
Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF)
Avian influenza A H5N6 and H7N7
Ebola virus disease (EVD)
Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)
Lassa fever
Monkeypox
Lujo virus disease
Nipah virus infection
Marburg virus disease (MVD)
Pneumonic plague (Yersinia pestis)
Severe fever with thrombocytopaenia syndrome (SFTS)
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)*
Being overweight brings on a lot of health issues related to every virus and disease listed above.. Why the concern now? Especially with something as nebulous as Covid?
Don’t censor me….
Mr. Brian,
“Why the concern now? ”
Because the Left’s Great Reset plans depend heavily on the correct public perceptions.
“Don’t censor me….”
You may be censored, or worse. You are speaking out in opposition of WHO public health guidelines.
All social media sites should ban overweight people right now, it’s the only socially responsible thing to do to protect society from the ills that the fatties bring.
Bryan,for clarities sake,pneamonic plague is a bacterial infection,rather than viral.
And because we still live in a free america,you can carry around as much as you want.
Just like covid
Dave mc , im sorry. We dont live in a free America. That changed with the refusal to verify and ensure a legal vote count. Soon you will only be allowed a certain caloric intake per-day. Fattiness will not be an option. Exceptions will be made for party leaders who get two helpings of whatever they choose. Today on social media only party approved thoughts and words are allowed. In new york the police state determines who may make a living and when is coming to all Bmericans soon . ( note the capital letter A is no longer acceptable to start a word of identity because it is the first letter of elphabet and it implies evil exceptionalism . There is no longer a constitution or bill of rights. There is now only fact checkers ,experts and social media decision makers . bmericans must bow to their masters at the capital who bow to the chinese yen . Any past transgressions by party leaders will now be memorialized as holidays. Starting with the acts contained in hunter bidens laptop and the naming of the big guy . The Declaration of Independence (document that accepts incitement of violence and its use for illegal freedom) is hereby banned under punishment of death / cancellation/ career destruction or whatever is the worst that decision makers can randomly think up . You are here by put on notice. Free thought is crime . Desire for clean elections is crime . Desire for personal choice is crime. All thoughts and words must be pre fact checked by media masters . Desire for independence is crime . The original tea partiers were the first criminals . All constitutional signers are hereby labeled domestic terrorists. Any form of liberty, free choice or freedom is a coup. Punishment is death and labeling as a domestic terrorist to be hunted ruthlessly and gradually eradicated as an aberration and plague. Party leaders will decide which words mean what as they choose. Corporate media will be celebrated and recognized as the new narrative producers. Bmerica just welcomed in the primary designer of the patriot act . ( the big guy with the really smart kid) enjoy and accept your requirement to be under surveillance. Free ,accurate elections and the right to question what you are told is now just a myth promoted by insurrectionist criminals like Monster Hawley , and criminal cruz – the condemned outcasts!!!!!!!! ( im not completely kidding- embrace what your allowed) free thought is now crime. Free speech is speaking only what you are told .