You've been on a diet for weeks, trying to get rid of that pot belly without obvious success. Meanwhile, your friends look as trim as ever as they wolf down far more cake than you. How do they get away with it?
Here’s the thing: maybe they don’t. Maybe, deep down, they’re more obese than you are.
After years of warning us about our weight, health scientists are becoming increasingly concerned about a global epidemic of what they call sarcopenic obesity.
Triggered by a combination of sedentary lifestyles and nutrient-poor diets, it’s been linked to all the worst manifestations of conventional obesity, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
But here’s the twist: its victims may have no idea just what bad shape they’re in. That’s because they are TOFIs – “Thin Outside, Fat Inside” – whose bodies show little outward sign that they are packed with a particularly nasty form of fat.
We mostly think of fat as a single inert type of stuff, which while unsightly, does provide us with an energy store plus a bit of cushioning and insulation.
That, in turn, creates the impression there’s just one form of obesity – the one involving excess fat in layers under the skin, which afflicts one in three men and half of all women in the UAE.
But researchers now suspect that this so-called subcutaneous adipose tissue is not the real threat. That comes from visceral adipose tissue, or visceral fat for short.
As its name suggests, this coats our organs and fills the space in between them. But it doesn’t simply sit there. Visceral fat is like an organ in itself, seething with biochemical activity, churning out a host of molecules and hormones.
And these have been implicated in a host of chronic health threats.
Evidence of the importance of this “enemy within” comes from a perplexing discovery made by scientists looking at the link between levels of obesity and premature death.
Since the 1970s, the standard means of quantifying obesity has been via the so-called Body Mass Index, calculated by taking body-mass in kilograms and dividing by the square of height in metres. People with a BMI over 25 are regarded as overweight, while those exceeding 30 are deemed clinically obese.
Scientists have found BMI to be a fairly good pointer to increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Fairly good – but not perfect.
One obvious flaw with BMI is that it doesn’t care what makes up body mass. It regards 10kg of honed muscle as just as “unhealthy” as 10kg of blubber.
But it’s now becoming clear that the biggest failing of BMI is that it doesn’t care where body mass is distributed.
Over the last decade or so, researchers have found increasing evidence that fat around the abdomen significantly increases the risk of premature death.
Last year, an international study of more than 41,000 people in Australasia and Europe showed that it was possible to have a healthy BMI in the range 20 to 25 and still face a 60 per cent higher risk of early death from cardiovascular disease.
Many health experts now think measures of BMI should be complemented, if not replaced, by waist measurement.
Current research suggests that if you’re a man and your waist circumference is at least 102cm, then you are seriously unhealthy; similarly for women with waists of at least 88cm.
Last month, the British Journal of Cancer published the results of a study of 43,000 people confirming the link between ill-health and waist measurement. Those carrying an extra 11cm around their waist were found to have a 13 per cent higher risk of cancer.
As for what makes waist measurement so important, scientists believe the answer lies in visceral fat.
Because it tends to accumulate around internal organs, it will be most obvious where most of our organs are: in our abdomen.
But as so often in obesity research, this simple “rule of tum” is now looking too simplistic.
While having a pot belly or muffin top may be a reliable indicator of increased risk, not having one is not necessarily a good sign.
That’s because visceral fat is quite capable of hiding within the spaces between our internal organs – leaving no visible trace of its lurking presence.
So how we tell if we’re playing host to the stuff? The only reliable non-invasive means is to undergo a medical scan using either X-rays or MRI. Scientists are trying to find cheaper, simpler methods but chances are it will never be a matter of plugging some do-it-yourself measurements into a formula.
That hasn’t deterred would-be health gurus from promoting exercise and diet plans said to target visceral fat, wherever it exists.
The good news is that while visceral fat is the first to accumulate, it is also the quickest to disappear.
Getting it to disappear is another matter, however.
Research suggests that exercises such as sit-ups alone are likely to prove useless: they don’t burn enough calories to make serious in-roads into abdominal fat reserves. They can, however, create the illusion of improvement, by reducing waist measurement by strengthening the abdominal muscles, which just do a better job of concealing the fat.
Some diets are said to target visceral fat – perhaps the best-known being the so-called 5:2 diet, which consists of five days of normal eating, with two non-consecutive days of 600 calories for men and 500 for women.
Pharmaceutical companies are also claiming that some drugs, such as orlistat, can seek out and destroy the enemy within.
But a new review of the evidence, just published in the International Journal of Obesity, suggests that nothing – not even bariatric surgery – really does target visceral fat.
The best way to get rid of it is by trying to lose weight in all its forms, by the age-old combination of a good diet plus exercise.
Cold comfort there for veterans of the war against the pot belly. But at least now they know they’re not fooling themselves about their health – unlike those who have always thought they can eat anything and get away with it.
Robert Matthews is visiting professor of science at Aston University, Birmingham, UK
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre, six-cylinder
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 395bhp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: from Dh321,200
On sale: now
FIGHT CARD
Welterweight Mostafa Radi (PAL) v Tohir Zhuraev (TJK)
Catchweight 75kg Leandro Martins (BRA) v Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR)
Flyweight Corinne Laframboise (CAN) v Manon Fiorot (FRA)
Featherweight Ahmed Al Darmaki (UAE) v Bogdan Kirilenko (UZB)
Lightweight Izzedine Al Derabani (JOR) v Atabek Abdimitalipov (KYG)
Featherweight Yousef Al Housani (UAE) v Mohamed Arsharq Ali (SLA)
Catchweight 69kg Jung Han-gook (KOR) v Elias Boudegzdame (ALG)
Catchweight 71kg Usman Nurmagomedov (RUS) v Jerry Kvarnstrom (FIN)
Featherweight title Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) v Alexandru Chitoran (ROU)
Lightweight title Bruno Machado (BRA) v Mike Santiago (USA)
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8
Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km
Price: Dh380,000
On sale: now
PRISCILLA
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
COPA DEL REY
Semi-final, first leg
Barcelona 1 (Malcom 57')
Real Madrid (Vazquez 6')
Second leg, February 27
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
It
Director: Andres Muschietti
Starring: Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor
Three stars
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
ZAYED SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE
First-round leaderbaord
-5 C Conners (Can)
-3 B Koepka (US), K Bradley (US), V Hovland (Nor), A Wise (US), S Horsfield (Eng), C Davis (Aus);
-2 C Morikawa (US), M Laird (Sco), C Tringale (US)
Selected others: -1 P Casey (Eng), R Fowler (US), T Hatton (Eng)
Level B DeChambeau (US), J Rose (Eng)
1 L Westwood (Eng), J Spieth (US)
3 R McIlroy (NI)
4 D Johnson (US)
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour Calendar 2018/19
July 29: OTA Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan
Sep 22-23: LA Convention Centre in Los Angeles, US
Nov 16-18: Carioca Arena Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Feb 7-9: Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE
Mar 9-10: Copper Box Arena in London, UK
Company%20Profile
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
Ferrari
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TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
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Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
