Researchers at the University of Missouri in Columbia found how chair time, or the time spent sitting, can be less known but a serious health hazard. According to these biomedical experts, sitting too much inhibits the functions of fat absorbing Lipase enzyme.
It can be a potential reason for the presence of more than 47 million adults in the United States who suffer from metabolic syndrome, which causes obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
How Chair Time or Sitting Inhibits Lipase Enzyme Functions?
- Enzymes are naturally occurring chemicals which either hasten or slow down chemical reactions in the body.
- Lipase is one such chemical associated with the body process of fat digestion by breaking fat from food and causing its absorption in the intestine.
- Sitting is found to cause this enzyme to stop its functioning of absorbing fats in the muscles.
- The fat gets recirculated back into the blood blocking the pathways of heart or getting stored as fat cells when it is not absorbed.
- As a result, the risk of developing obesity, heart disease and diabetes is doubled or even tripled depending upon an individual’s body make up.
- The amount of fat deposited in the body while sitting is quite a significant one.
- When researchers tested the blood samples of individuals who had their food sitting, they were found to be cloudy when compared to the clear blood samples of people who had food standing.
- Standing for an hour burns 60 calories extra and improves the levels of good cholesterol which gets reduced by 22 percent on sitting.
Significance of the Research on Chair Time – Lipase Enzyme Nexus:
Sedentary lifestyle and lack of exercise are a couple of major culprits behind obesity becoming a national epidemic in the United States. Awareness about the less known health facts revealed by the present research can go a long way in addressing the menace of weight gain in the society.
