Why Men May Benefit More from Weight Loss
Monday, July 6, 2009
Last week I blogged about an article by Jennifer Kuk, (York University, Toronto) on the effect of weight satisfaction on healthy behaviours.
Now Jennifer is back, with her Mentor Bob Ross (Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario) with an article on sex differences in regional weight loss between obese men and women, published in the International Journal of Obesity.
In this study, Kuk and Ross examined changes in total, subcutaneous, and visceral (intra-abdominal) fat using sophisticated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 81 men and 72 women who had participated in various diet and/or exercise interventions at Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada.
Although, there was a significant correlation between weight loss and reductions in waist circumference with changes in total, subcutaneous, and visceral fat, for a given weight loss, men had a significantly greater decrease in waist circumference and visceral fat than women – the greater the weight loss, the greater the sex difference in loss of visceral fat.
These finding may have important clinical implications: as most of the metabolic complications of obesity are associated with excess visceral rather than subcutaneous fat, it appears that for the same amount of weight loss, the health benefits may be greater for men than for women.
Given my previous posting on why women are more likely to gain weight and may have a harder time losing it, guys seem to come out of this with a clear advantage.
This said, it continues to be disconcerting that most obesity programs consistently report an overbearing majority of female patients (generally over 80%) – the guys appear far less concerned about or interested in losing weight.
Perhaps the news that men who lose weight, are more likely to lose the “unhealthy” visceral fat, may drive more men to seek obesity treatment – if so, I’d be very surprised!
AMS
Edmonton, Alberta
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Dr. Sharma,
Speaking as an obese man, I care very much about my excess fat. But like many other people of both sexes, when I embark upon a significant change in eating habits I tend to regain the lost fat within a year. Most of my obese male friends and relatives likewise desire to be thin, but likewise have experienced “yo-yo” fat loss in the past and prefer to be stable at an undesirable weight than to expend a lot of time on effort for transient gain. I’m not trying to assert that long term fat loss is impossible, but it is definitely difficult.
I also suspect men are more private about feeling inadequate due to obesity. It’s socially acceptable for women to discuss a desire to lose fat with friends, family, and medical professionals. The same discussion feels more embarrassing to men, so they keep quiet and pretend to be satisfied with their size.
-Mike
Friday, February 12, 2016
Great Information Sir
Men do benefit from weight loss as gaining healthy muscles mass will help you but make sure that you don’t overdo yourselves with supplements and all. Because some of these supplements have side effects which can arise at a later stage.