clear link between a large waist circumference and a decreased lung function

Having extra fat around your belly is known to increase the risk of you suffering from many different illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease to name just a few. However not many people would know that by having a large belly you are also weakening the functioning of your lungs. According to a team of researchers in France there is a clear link between a large waist circumference and a decreased lung function which is apparent irrespective of other factors such as smoking or BMI scores.

For this research project around 120,000 individuals in France were subjected to a health analysis and medical histories about smoking, alcohol consumption and other factors were looked at it carefully. Dr. Natalie Leone from the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research discovered a “positive independent relationship” between waist circumference and reduced lung function which was not previously expected. The researchers used the definition of abdominal obesity being a waist circumference of thirty five inches plus for females and forty inches plus for males.

Some of the researchers speculated that excess belly fat could be responsible for impairing the function of the chest and the diaphragm.  It is also known that people who have excess fat tissue are more likely to suffer from increased inflammation in the body which could also be linked to poor lung function. Other studies have shown that individuals with poor lung function are more likely to suffer illness and death from heart disease and Dr Paul Enright from the University of Arizona noted that doctors should be more aware about the link between waist circumference and lung function in order to make a better diagnosis of patients.

The research was written up in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.