Fight belly fat: find out why your waist-to-hip ratio is more important than you think.(SUPPLEMENTS: HEALTHY SOLUTIONS)(Report)

If you and I were in the grocery store, and I said the words "apple" and "pear," you'd probably think "fruit." But when it comes to weight loss and health, these words have entirely different meanings.

Apple and pear are now common terms for describing patterns of fat accumulation on the body. The "apple-shaped" person stores their fat around the middle, while the "pear-shaped" person is bottom heavy, storing most of their excess weight around the thighs and butt. While both types of fat distribution might keep you from feeling comfortable in your jeans, the truth is that they are far from equivalent when it comes to your metabolism and health.

Fat that's stored around the middle is known as VAT--visceral abdominal tissue. You and I may affectionately (or not so affectionately) know that fat as a beer belly or love handles, but it's anything but benign. A substantial amount of research has shown that VAT (abdominal fat to the rest of us) significantly increases the risk for all kinds of problems, from high blood pressure to diabetes to metabolic syndrome. A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that excess abdominal fat almost doubled the risk of death from a host of diseases, including stroke, heart disease, and cancer. Why is belly fat so much more of a problem than regular, garden-variety fat?

The answer seems to lie in the difference in how abdominal fat actually functions. According to Harvard endocrinologist Jo Ann Manson, MD, abdominal fat cells tend to be more active in producing hormones and chemical messengers that cause inflammation throughout the body.

As with real estate, the most important thing about fat is location, location, location. Subcutaneous fat--the kind that gets stored on the thighs, butt, and upper arms--is the kind you can pinch and is stored right beneath the skin. Unattractive and annoying, but basically harmless. Belly fat--deep inside the abdominal cavity--is near the liver, and the hormones and chemicals produced by abdominal fat go right to the liver. Increased fat in the liver--called fatty liver syndrome--is a risk factor for insulin resistance, which in turn is linked to type 2 diabetes. "Most of the research suggests that abdominal fat at least triples the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, and abnormal cholesterol levels," says Manson.

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