What Are Love Handles?

What Are Love Handles?
By PositiveMed-Team
Edited By: Stephanie Dawson

Love handle is an informal term used to describe excess fat at the sides of the waistline. Its also known as abdominal obesity or muffin top. They come up when layers of excessive subcutaneous fat accumulate over the stomach and abdominal area. They can be fixed using various exercises.
Researchers started analyzing this area of medical science in the 1980s and found that love handles or abdominal fat have a vital connection with many chronic diseases.
There are numerous health hazards of love handles and excess abdominal fat is partly responsible for heart disease and hypertension.

• Diabetes

A number of theories have found a direct relationship between diabetes and love handles. Deposits of fat in the central part of the body predispose us to insulin resistance. Its also responsible for secreting hormones known as adipokines which impair glucose tolerance resulting in possible diabetes.

• Asthma

Studies have shown an association between love handles and asthma. People who have higher belly fat content take frequent and small breathes resulting in lower volumes of air entering the body, this low air volume breathing tightens muscles and narrows the airway. People with love handles have more chances of being hospitalized. Statistics show that more than 75% of people who were admitted to hospitals for asthma were either overweight or had love handles.

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