What your body shape may indicate about the health of your hormones and why it matters in the long run if you want to improve and avoid your health
Part 1 — The muffin top, the apple shape, and being "thin fat"Why do some persons tend to carry their weight around the midline whereas others are more likely to have larger thighs or to be overweight in general? Everything is influenced by our hormones (and genetics).
While these might seem like insignificant worries, if they linger for too long and are left unattended, they may be warning signs of other (perhaps more dangerous) interior health problems.
Before we begin, let's review what hormones are in general.
Hormones are substances that communicate with your organs, skin, muscles, and other tissues through your blood to coordinate various bodily functions. These messages instruct your body on what to do when. Hormones are necessary for both life and wellness.
Numerous biological functions are regulated by hormones, including:
- Metabolism.
- Homeostasis (continuous internal balance), which includes control of body temperature, fluid (water) and electrolyte balance, and blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
- development and expansion.
- sexual activity.
- Reproduction.
- sleep and wake cycles.
- Mood.
The muffin top and "skinny fat" profile equal the apple shape.
Abdominal fat buildup in this pattern is typically an indication of an insulin and cortisol hormone imbalance. The primary function of insulin is to transport glucose (blood sugar) into cells for energy (to be used as needed, or to be stored where excessive).
Our primary stress hormone is cortisol.
According to research, the brain is signalled by both insulin resistance and an unbalanced daily cortisol rhythm to store extra fat around the waist, shifting it from the extremities to the abdomen, and especially around the organs (5).
These results are consistent with the physiology of insulin, which speeds up the storage of glucose and lipids inside of cells while reducing serum insulin from a low-carbohydrate diet promotes lipolysis and offers the body access to its fat reserves as a source of energy.
Other typical signs of blood sugar and cortisol abnormalities include:
Cravings, especially for foods that are particularly appetising, like sweet and fatty foods
Excessive wrinkles and cellular ageing (caused by a process called "glycation" that is similar to "rusting" our cells, including the structure of the skin!)
Awaking unexpectedly throughout the night
Low zinc also contributes to brittle, ridged nails and a weakened immune system.
"Hangriness," the intense want to eat as a result of blood sugar swings.
In relation to PCOS symptoms including infertility, acne, and coarse hair (hirsutism),
Repeated UTIs
And perimenopause presents a more challenging transitional stage, including hot flash intensity.
This can result in male-specific PCOS, male pattern baldness, and benign prostate hyperplasia in men (via the upregulation of something called 5-alpha-reductase and resulting higher levels of DHT, a more potent and potentially harmful version of testosterone).
But research suggests that if a problem is ignored for too long, it often escalates into a bigger one. A few of these include:
Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease (strokes, heart attacks, etc.), and Alzheimer's (which is frequently referred to as "type 3 diabetes" in scientific literature due to its close association with chronic blood sugar problems) are all conditions associated with metabolic syndrome.
From cellular damage to an elevated risk of developing cancer
Did you also know that uncomfortable perimenopausal symptoms like hot flashes have been related to an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and other problems in the future? Several of their frequent nominees? Insulin resistance, erratic blood sugar levels, and unbalanced stress biochemistry for decades prior to it.
How some health issues have been connected to abdominal fat alone
In addition to being a vanity issue, research has connected belly fat gain to health issues. Women with central adiposity have a higher risk of dying from cancer, cardiovascular disease, and all other causes (31). Additionally, it has been demonstrated that memory impairment and cognitive decline brought on by neuroinflammation, such as Alzheimer's disease, are exacerbated by the inflammatory signals emitted by visceral adipose tissue (also known as NLRP3 inflammasome).
That layer of abdominal tissue, also known as visceral because it surrounds your organs rather than just your skin, can secrete hormones like an endocrine organ, causing hormone imbalances like oestrogen dominance (which we will discuss in a subsequent blog post on the pear-shaped body type), as well as impairing the immune system as a whole.
Additionally, the buildup of visceral fat promotes the production of more cortisol, which lowers blood zinc levels. In the secretion and signalling of insulin, zinc is essential. Insulin resistance is a result of changes in the molecular properties of zinc, making the relationship between belly fat and insulin resistance a two-way street (chicken or egg?).
Typical causes of insulin resistance and blood sugar problems
1) The obvious one is number one: eating too much sweets. The majority of you are probably aware of how unhealthy it is to consume huge quantities of foods made with processed and refined white flour, such bagels, pizza, baked goods, and candies.
2) However, I frequently see that the diets of my patient population are heavy in good carbs and covert sugars. Did you know that even healthy carbohydrates like sweet potatoes, oats, or fruit become sugar inside the body? Of course, they also contain a tonne of fantastic nutrients like minerals, vitamins, plant nutrients like polyphenols, fibre to support a healthy gut and detox system, but.. they do turn into sugar once in the blood stream, so too much of even those can lead to blood sugar roller coasters, cellular rusting ('glycation,') and eventually the cell's fatigue to respond to insulin's signalling ('insulin resistance,').
3) Regular snacking Over the years, we have been told that it is ideal to eat several small meals throughout the day and to snack sometimes. Newer research refutes this and demonstrates that this is only "needed" when a person has blood sugar issues, which are typically brought on by overeating and meals that are too high in sugars relative to protein and fats. As a result, the blood sugar rises after each meal or snack and then drops, forcing you to eat again. Each Insulin is created every time you eat a meal that is high in carbohydrates and sugars (and to a much lesser extent, protein) to transport that energy into your cells for usage (or storage if too much is consumed that isn't needed for energy at that time). Your cells eventually become weary of the signal and stop reacting to it if insulin levels are consistently high as a result of persistent snacking (also known as "insulin resistance"). This then causes blood sugar to rise and the storage of belly fat to increase.
Typical contributing elements are:
Omega-6 and saturated fatty acids, particularly arachidonic acid (AA) and palmitic acid, might be seen as pro-inflammatory molecules when present in excess or an unbalanced amount.
Omega-3 fatty acids, particularly eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids, can be thought of as anti-inflammatory chemicals. This is because they can directly bind to certain binding proteins that can lessen insulin resistance in an organ and produce resolvins, which can resolve inflammation.
5) A high caloric intake overall. When we take more calories than we actually need, our body converts them to a kind of fat known as "palmitic acid." A high-fat diet can directly use palmitic acid, but when overall caloric and sugar intake are high, the body can also generate this chemical through a process called "de novo lipogenesis." Inflammation caused by palmitic acid in the brain's hypothalamus causes insulin and leptin to less effectively signal satiety.
6) Inflammation brought on by sources other than diet: When the body experiences persistent low-grade inflammation, the brain sends another signal to the cells to become more resistant to insulin, which causes them to store fat in the abdomen. Long-lasting infections including Epstein-Barr virus, CMV, HPV, abnormalities in the gut microbiome like H. pylori, candida albicans, and other pathogenic overgrowth are typical causes of chronic inflammation.
7) Oxidative stress [20–22], which is brought on by an excess of free radicals.
8) Lack of sleep. The brain can signal the body to temporarily become insulin resistant even after just one night of insufficient sleep. To make matters worse, when we don't get enough sleep at night, it's much harder to control our cravings because our prefrontal cortex, which helps us make reasonable decisions, isn't activated. This makes us crave more highly palatable foods like sugar and fat, which feeds the cycle.
9) Similar to the previous point, some medications, such corticosteroids, can quickly make insulin resistance worse [8]. This is related to what we already talked about, which is how elevated cortisol lowers blood zinc levels and affects insulin signalling as a result. Let's examine how stress (cortisol) and belly fat are related.
FAQ
- What impact do hormones have on how you look?
- What properties do hormones in the human body have?
- What might occur if your hormones are out of balance?
- Which area of the body produces hormones?
- What most has an impact on your hormones?
- What could impact a woman's hormone levels?
- How can you tell if a lady has an imbalance in her hormones?
- How can I maintain a hormone balance?
- How can you tell if you have low levels of female hormones?
- How can you tell if you have high or low hormone levels?