Your secret weapon in the war against belly fat
The belly fat that typically arrives with middle age shouldn’t be written off as just “one of those things” that comes along with aging.
In reality, this type of fat is a huge challenge to your health. In fact, it’s downright dangerous.
So if your middle has started to expand, it’s time to take steps to do something about it. Fortunately, there’s an all-natural, sweat-free, no-starvation secret you can use in your battle against the bulge.
Pulling in the reins on that aggravating “spread”
The major problem with this “middle-aged spread,” also known as “visceral fat,” is that it influences your hormonal function. For instance, this excess fat tissue promotes insulin resistance — perhaps the most profound marker of metabolic syndrome.
This fat also secretes chemicals called adipokines which set off inflammation and release fatty acids into the bloodstream.
As a general rule of thumb, visceral fat becomes dangerous when a woman’s waist measures 35 inches or more — and 40 inches for a man.
Attempts to trim away at this problem are notoriously difficult, but as scientists in Osaka, Japan report, a supplement of rose hips — also known as “fruit of the rose” — might be the key to success.
First of all, this unique botanical is packed with whole-body benefitting components, including:
- Antioxidant components, including flavonoids and phytochemicals
- Magnesium, calcium, selenium, and other essential minerals
- Organic compounds such as lycopene and lutein
- Vitamins A, E, and B complex
The Osaka team divided 32 overweight participants into two groups. One group took a daily dose of 100 mg rose hip extract, and the other took a placebo. After 12 weeks, the rose hip group had significant reductions in:
- Abdominal total fat area
- Abdominal visceral fat area
- Body mass index
- Body weight
The Osaka team concluded, “These results suggest that rosehip extract may be a good candidate food material for preventing obesity.”
Beautiful bonus: Blood sugar control
You might wonder how a mouse study could signal human benefits for weight loss and reduction in belly fat, but in his Integrative Protocol for Defeating Diabetes, Dr. Marc Micozzi features a rose hips study that demonstrated this effectiveness.
He notes that researchers from Lund University in Sweden fed a calorie-dense diet to two groups of mice for three months. One group also received rose hips in their daily diet. Remarkably, the mice in the rose hips group gained no weight, while body weight soared in the other.
Other benefits seen in the rose hips group included:
- Lower blood sugar and insulin (other research also reveals this effect of balancing glucose and insulin)
- Lower cholesterol
- Significantly higher metabolic rate
- Higher energy expenditure
As you can see, those last two benefits are particularly important because they’re both key components of weight management.
Effective offloading of unwanted fat
As impressive as the Lund results are, the effects that rose hips had on two types of body fat — “white fat” and “brown fat” — are even more impressive!
White fat (also known as “bad fat”) stores dangerous triglyceride molecules, while brown fat (“good fat”) disperses energy (i.e. calories) in the form of heat. This generation of heat — called thermogenesis — literally burns off calories and body fat.
“In addition,” Dr. Micozzi says, “scientists now know that human brown fat cells can confer some of their metabolic properties onto white fat cells. This mechanism increases the fat-burning properties of white fat cells. This ‘browning’ of white fat is called brite (since it turns ‘brown into white’ fat cells).
“In a genetic analysis conducted by the Lund researchers, mice in the rose hips group showed increased expression of biomarkers for brite.”
Dr. Micozzi recommends using 1,000 mg (1 gram) of rose hips daily.
Dr. Micozzi has much more to say about rose hips and many other natural approaches that are proven to be effective in helping you lose weight, reduce fat, and avoid a diabetes diagnosis in his Integrative Protocol for Defeating Diabetes. Click here to learn more about this informative easy-to-follow learning tool, or to get started today.
SOURCES
“Daily intake of rosehip extract decreases abdominal visceral fat in preobese subjects: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial” Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome, and Obesity: Targets and Therapy 2015; 8: 147-156. doi: [10.2147/DMSO.S78623]