1. Sugary Foods and Beverages
Many people take in more sugar every day than they realize.
High-sugar foods include cakes and candies, along with so-called "healthier" choices like muffins and frozen yogurt. Soda, flavored coffee drinks and sweet tea are among the most popular sugar-sweetened beverages.
Observational studies have shown a link between high sugar intake and excess belly fat. This may be largely due to the high fructose content of added sugars.
Both regular sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are high in fructose. Regular sugar has 50% fructose and high-fructose corn syrup has 55% fructose.
In a controlled 10-week study, overweight and obese people who consumed 25% of calories as fructose-sweetened beverages on a weight-maintaining diet experienced a decrease in insulin sensitivity and an increase in belly fat.
A second study reported a reduction in fat burning and metabolic rate among people who followed a similar high-fructose diet.
2. Alcohol
Some studies have shown that alcohol suppresses fat burning and that excess calories from alcohol are partly stored as belly fat — hence the term "beer belly".
Studies have linked high alcohol intake to weight gain around the middle. One study found that men who consumed more than three drinks per day were 80% more likely to have excess belly fat than men who consumed less alcohol.
The quantity of alcohol consumed within a 24-hour period also appears to play a role.
In another study, daily drinkers who consumed less than one drink per day tended to have the least abdominal fat, while those who drank less often but consumed four or more drinks on "drinking days" were most likely to have excess belly fat.
3. Trans Fats
Trans fats are often used to extend the shelf lives of packaged foods, such as muffins, baking mixes and crackers.
Trans fats have been shown to cause inflammation. This can lead to insulin resistance, heart disease and various other diseases.
There are also some animal studies suggesting that diets containing trans fats may cause excess belly fat.
At the end of a 6-year study, monkeys fed an 8% trans fat diet gained weight and had 33% more abdominal fat than monkeys fed an 8% monounsaturated fat diet, despite both groups receiving just enough calories to maintain their weight.
4. Inactivity
A major survey from 1988-2010 in the US found that there was a significant increase in inactivity, weight and abdominal girth in men and women.
Another observational study compared women who watched more than three hours of TV per day to those who watched less than one hour per day.
The group that watched more TV had almost twice the risk of "severe abdominal obesity" compared to the group that watched less TV.
One study also suggests that inactivity contributes to the regain of belly fat after losing weight.
In this study, researchers reported that people who performed resistance or aerobic exercise for 1 year after losing weight were able to prevent abdominal fat regain, while those who did not exercise had a 25–38% increase in belly fat.
5. Low-Protein Diets
High-protein diets make you feel full and satisfied, increase your metabolic rate and lead to a spontaneous reduction in calorie intake.
In contrast, low protein intake may cause you to gain belly fat over the long term.
Several large observational studies suggest that people who consume the highest amount of protein are the least likely to have excess belly fat.
6. Menopause
At puberty, the hormone estrogen signals the body to begin storing fat on the hips and thighs in preparation for a potential pregnancy. This subcutaneous fat isn't harmful, although it can be extremely difficult to lose in some cases.
Menopause officially occurs one year after a woman has her last menstrual period.
Around this time, her estrogen levels drop dramatically, causing fat to be stored in the abdomen, rather than on the hips and thighs.
Some women gain more belly fat at this time than others. This may partly be due to genetics, as well as the age at which menopause starts. One study found that women who complete menopause at a younger age tend to gain less abdominal fat.
7. The Wrong Gut Bacteria
An imbalance in gut bacteria increases your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other diseases.
There's also some research suggesting that having an unhealthy balance of gut bacteria may promote weight gain, including abdominal fat.
Researchers have found that obese people tend to have greater numbers of Firmicutes bacteria than people of normal weight. Studies suggest that these types of bacteria may increase the amount of calories that are absorbed from food.
One animal study found that bacteria-free mice gained significantly more fat when they received fecal transplants of bacteria associated with obesity, compared with mice that received bacteria linked to leanness .
8. Fruit Juice
Although fruit juice provides some vitamins and minerals, the fructose it contains can drive insulin resistance and promote belly fat gain.
What's more, it's another source of liquid calories that's easy to consume too much of, yet still fails to satisfy your appetite in the same way as solid food.
9. Stress and Cortisol
In many people, stress drives overeating. But instead of the excess calories being stored as fat all over the body, cortisol promotes fat storage in the belly.
Interestingly, women who have large waists in proportion to their hips have been found to secrete more cortisol when stressed.
10. Low-Fiber Diets
In an observational study of 1,114 men and women, soluble fiber intake was associated with reduced abdominal fat. For each 10-gram increase in soluble fiber there was a 3.7% decrease in belly fat accumulation.
Diets high in refined carbs and low in fiber appear to have the opposite effect on appetite and weight gain, including increases in belly fat .
One large study found that high-fiber whole grains were associated with reduced abdominal fat, while refined grains were linked to increased abdominal fat.
11. Genetics
Genes play a major role in obesity risk
Similarly, it appears that the tendency to store fat in the abdomen is partly influenced by genetics.
In 2014, researchers identified three new genes associated with increased waist-to-hip ratio and abdominal obesity, including two that were found only in women.
12. Not Enough Sleep
Sleep disorders may also lead to weight gain. One of the most common disorders, sleep apnea, is a condition in which breathing stops repeatedly during the night due to soft tissue in the throat blocking the airway.
In one study, researchers found that obese men with sleep apnea had more abdominal fat than obese men without the disorder.
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