Pot bellies are good for women's bones: But men can't say the same for beer guts

At last, some good news for women whose waistlines wobble. Females with pot bellies and muffin tops are less likely to break bones than those with perfectly toned tums, research has found. 

Men, however, can’t take similar solace in their beer bellies, as the link between waist size and bone strength was apparent only for females. Researchers tracked the health of more than 1,000 men and women aged 50-plus for an average of five years. During that time, 19 of the men and 107 of the women broke a bone.

Factoring in the amount of abdominal fat revealed a link between big bellies and breaks in the women. Specifically, the 25 per cent of women with fattest middles were 40 per cent less likely to have broken a bone than those with the flattest midriffs, the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology reports.

The researchers, from Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research, said the benefit could be due to the extra force placed on bones strengthening them. Fat can also provide valuable padding if an individual falls. However, they believe the most likely explanation involves the female sex hormone oestrogen. 

Women who store fat around their middle tend to have higher levels of oestrogen, and the hormone is good for the bones. The researchers said that their finding could help explain why the number of fractures has gone down as obesity rates have risen around the world.

Project leader Professor Tuan Nguyen  said: ‘This study appears to be consistent with the fact that obesity levels are rising worldwide at the same time that fracture incidence is decreasing.’ 

However, with fat stored around the middle known to pose a particular danger to the heart, as well as raise the risk of diabetes, the researchers are not advocating that women start to cultivate pot bellies.