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Indian belly – once a badge of prosperity, indulgence and aging respectability – has long been a target of satire and social comments.
In the literature, he quietly pointed out comfort or complacency; In films, he has become a shortcut for the lazy official, the gourmet uncle or a corrupt police officer. The cartoons exaggerated him to make fun of politicians. In rural areas, it was once considered a symbol of status – a sign that “this man eats well”.
But what has been rejected or even celebrated is now raising alarm bells. The obesity crisis in India is in balloon – and the apparently harmless pot stomach can be a much larger villain than we think.
India had the second largest number of overweight or obese adults in 2021, with 180 million affected – behind only China. A new study launched warns that this number could rise to 450 million by 2050, almost a third of the country’s projected population.
Globally, more than half of all adults and a third of children and adolescents are expected to face the same fate.
At the heart of this question in India is the belly of pot, or in medical terms, abdominal obesity.
This form of obesity refers to the accumulation of excess fat around the belly and that doctors say that it is more than aesthetic concern. From the 1990s, studies showed a clear link between belly fat and chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
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By 2050, 450 million Indians should be overweight or obese
Obesity is not only abdominal. It appears in different models, depending on the distribution of fats: peripheral obesity affects hips, thighs and buttocks, while generalized obesity implies the propagation of fats more uniformly through the body.
The abdominal obesity figures in India are already disturbing. According to the latest national family health survey (NFHS -5) – which, for the first time, measured the size and size of hips – around 40% of women and 12% of men in India have abdominal obesity.
Abdominal obesity, based on Indian guidelines, means a size of more than 90 cm (35 inches) for men and 80 cm (31 inches) for women. Among women aged 30 to 49, almost one in two already show signs. Urban populations have proved more affected than rural those, with a high -waisted tower or high -hip ratios emerging like a key red flag.
So why is the belly so important?
One of the reasons is resistance to insulin – a condition where the body ceases to respond correctly to insulin, the hormone which helps to regulate blood sugar. The abdominal fat disturbs the way the body uses insulin, which makes it difficult to control blood sugar.
Studies have revealed that South Asians, including Indians, tend to have more body fat than white Caucasians with the same body mass index. (BMI is a simple measure that assesses the weight of a person in relation to their size.)
It’s not just how much you have fat – that’s it. In the South Asians, fats tend to come together around the trunk and under the skin, but not always deep in the abdomen as visceral fat.
Although the South Asians can have less more harmful abdominal abdominal fat around organs such as liver and pancreas, studies show that their larger and less effective fatty cells have trouble storing fat under the skin. Consequently, excess fat pours into vital organs that regulate metabolism – such as liver and pancreas – increasing the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
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India, China and the United States lead eight nations housing more than half of the overweight and obese population of the world
Scientists still do not fully understand the biological reasons behind fat distribution patterns. Although many genetic studies have been carried out, no single gene systematically explained this trend.
A theory offers an evolutionary root. India, for centuries, has been accumulated by chronic famines and shortages, leaving generations to survive on meager nutrition.
In such conditions, the human body has adapted to survival in extreme rarity.
The body needed a deposit for this energy and the abdomen, being the most extensible area, has become the main storage site. Over time, as food became more abundant, this large store continued to grow – possibly at harmful levels.
“It is a theory of conjectural but plausible evolution-which cannot be proven, but makes sense”, explains Anoo Misra, which directs the Center of Excellence Fortis-Coc de Delhi for diabetes, metabolic diseases and endocrinology.
Last year, in a newspaper, doctors belonging to the Indian Obesity Commission redefined the directives of obesity for Asian Indians, passing beyond the BMI to better reflect the way in which body fat relates to early health risks.
They have created a clinical system in two stages which considers the distribution of fats, related diseases and physical function.
The first step involves a high BMI, but without abdominal obesity, metabolic disease or physical dysfunction. In such cases, lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise and sometimes drugs are generally sufficient.
The second step includes abdominal obesity – harmful visceral fat – and is often accompanied by health problems such as diabetes, knee pain or palpitations. This step indicates a higher risk and calls for more intensive management.
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Doctors blame the stomach rise in India on the junk quarters of life, take -out dishes, instant meals
This classification guides the intensity of treatment. Once the belly fat appears, early action is essential – new weight loss drugs such as semaglutide and shooting are effective in targeting it, according to doctors.
“As shocking as it may seem, even people with normal weight can have dangerous belly fat levels,” said Dr. Misra.
Indian doctors say that abdominal obesity increases due to lifestyle changes – more junk food, take -out meals, instant meals and cooking at fatty home. Between 2009 and 2019, Cameroon, India and Vietnam experienced the fastest growth per capita sales of ultra-trained food and drinks, found studies.
So what should you do?
Experts say that Indians need more difficult lifestyle changes than Western standards recommend it. While 150 minutes of weekly exercise may be enough for their European men, their counterparts in South Asians need around 250 to 300 minutes to compensate for slower metabolism and less efficient fat storage, according to studies.
“Our bodies are simply not so good to manage excess fat,” explains Dr. Misra.
In short, the pot stomach is not only a punchline – it is a warning sign. And India is sitting on a health delay bomb.
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