TheMase
Brownlow Medallist
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Good news, theres no such thing as a beer belly 
Drink up fellas
Beer bellies 'a myth'
January 10, 2003
IT sounds like the perfect excuse for middle-aged men struggling to control expanding waistlines.
Researchers says beer bellies have less to do with the drink than with genes.
Flabby stomachs have nothing to do with too many beers - and everything to do with the wrong kind of genes.
Researchers have found men with a particular kind of gene are more likely to suffer from middle-aged spread. The Italian team, led by Dr Pasquale Strazzullo from the University of Naples, looked at three different forms of the gene in 959 men aged 25 to 75.
They found that those with a form known as DD were more frequently overweight than those with the other two variants.
Among 314 men followed for 20 years, individuals with DD were more than twice as likely to develop beer bellies than men who inherited the two alternative forms of the gene.
Volunteers were weighed and measured and their gene type determined by a blood test.
Dr Strazzullo, whose findings are reported in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, said the gene variant was associated with larger increases in body weight and blood pressure in ageing persons, as well as with higher incidence of overweight.
The gene also produces a substance called angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), which is known to help the body regulate blood pressure.
Experts know that men with apple-shaped bodies, with fat accumulated around their middles, are more likely to suffer ill-health than those who tend to store fat elsewhere, such as around the thighs,
Studies have suggested apple-shaped people are more likely to develop heart disease and die prematurely.
The sedentary office-based lifestyle of many men, coupled with a love of fatty foods, has been blamed for the average waistline of the British male expanding by about 8.9cm over the last 30 years.
It is now an average 91.5cm, while chests have expanded 7.6cm to 106.7cm.
Drink up fellas
Beer bellies 'a myth'
January 10, 2003
IT sounds like the perfect excuse for middle-aged men struggling to control expanding waistlines.
Researchers says beer bellies have less to do with the drink than with genes.
Flabby stomachs have nothing to do with too many beers - and everything to do with the wrong kind of genes.
Researchers have found men with a particular kind of gene are more likely to suffer from middle-aged spread. The Italian team, led by Dr Pasquale Strazzullo from the University of Naples, looked at three different forms of the gene in 959 men aged 25 to 75.
They found that those with a form known as DD were more frequently overweight than those with the other two variants.
Among 314 men followed for 20 years, individuals with DD were more than twice as likely to develop beer bellies than men who inherited the two alternative forms of the gene.
Volunteers were weighed and measured and their gene type determined by a blood test.
Dr Strazzullo, whose findings are reported in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, said the gene variant was associated with larger increases in body weight and blood pressure in ageing persons, as well as with higher incidence of overweight.
The gene also produces a substance called angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), which is known to help the body regulate blood pressure.
Experts know that men with apple-shaped bodies, with fat accumulated around their middles, are more likely to suffer ill-health than those who tend to store fat elsewhere, such as around the thighs,
Studies have suggested apple-shaped people are more likely to develop heart disease and die prematurely.
The sedentary office-based lifestyle of many men, coupled with a love of fatty foods, has been blamed for the average waistline of the British male expanding by about 8.9cm over the last 30 years.
It is now an average 91.5cm, while chests have expanded 7.6cm to 106.7cm.
