Dr Zoe Williams discusses visceral fat on This Morning

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Whether you are carrying a little bit of extra weight or not, you could be in possession of dangerous visceral fat levels within your body. Expensive imaging tests can reveal how much harmful fat you have. However, for most of us, the only telling way is to measure our waists.

A waist circumference of 35 inches or more (in women) puts you in the danger zone, WebMD certified.

As for men, this is true for any measurement above 40 inches.

Eye-opening research published in the peer-reviewed journal BMC Obesity focused on a spice shown to help eliminate visceral fat.

Chilli peppers contain capsaicinoids, which are “responsible for enhanced metabolism”.

There were 75 “healthy” volunteers recruited for the trial, who were randomly assigned a placebo, 2mg of capsaicinoids, or 4mg of capsaicinoids.

Participants were evaluated with respect to fat mass and percent body fat before the trial began and at the end of the experiment.

By the end of the 12-week trial, those taking 4mg of capsaicinoids had a 5.91 percent lower body fat reading compared to placebo.

The percentage change of fat mass in the 4mg capsaicinoids group, after 12 weeks of treatment, was 6.68 percent compared to placebo.

As such, the researchers concluded that there are “potential benefits of capsaicinoids on body fat and fat mass”.

The researchers added: “Further studies are required to explore pharmacological, physiological, and metabolic benefits of both chronic and acute capsaicinoids consumption.”

Meanwhile, the American Heart Association noted further benefits of consuming chilli pepper.

Not only did chilli pepper seemingly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, it was associated with fewer cancer deaths.

The researchers elaborated: “Consumption of chilli pepper may reduce the relative risk of cardiovascular disease mortality by 26 percent.”

This was “according to an analysis of diet and mortality data from four large, international studies”.

Moreover, they stated: “Chilli pepper consumption was associated with a 25 percent reduction in death from any cause and 23 percent fewer cancer deaths.”

It must be noted that this was in comparison to “people who never or only rarely consumed chilli pepper”.

Why such positive outcomes are linked to chilli consumption is currently “unknown”.

However, there are several limitations to the studies showcasing that chilli pepper is connected to better health outcomes.

For instance, the amount and type of chilli pepper varied among the research.

Furthermore, the health data on participants was “limited”.

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