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Men's Health Risks

male with belly fat

Men’s two great health risks are:

The fat they accumulate around their bellies

Their propensity to not think about their health


CDC statistics show that the average American man lives 5.3 fewer years than does the average woman. Current male life expectancy is 74.8 years. Female life expectancy is 80.1 years. (And these are trending down.)

There are five main reasons for lesser life-expectancy in men than women are:

(Really, reasons 2 through 5 are just that men think differently about life than women.)

  1. The first reason is that men typically store more deep abdominal and “belly fat” than do women. Abdominal fat is correlated to a MUCH greater risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and strokes than the “hip fat” of women. Deep abdominal fat also is correlated to insulin insensitivity, which is associated to higher blood sugar, and higher blood sugar levels promote protein glycation (damage) and cell death.
  2. The second reason is that men are much less likely to seek medical help or nutritional guidance than women. They tend to tough out illnesses, pains and look "tough" since they believe that is what is expected of them.
  3. Third, they are more concerned with social activities such as smoking, drinking, and unhealthy habits than are women. All of these are free-radical threats to the longevity of one’s DNA.
  4. Fourth, they are much less likely to eat nutritional food than women.
  5. Finally, they react to aging differently (meaning that don't recognize the toll of aging and take countermeasures) because they don't experience such significant hormonal changes or go through menopause as they age like women do.
men eating beer and fish and chips man refusing to seek medical help
The Got To Be Tough Mentality of Men Causes Their Early Death

Social expectations: Men are expected to take risks and talk about their feats, even if it's just the risk of enjoying the "good life" of overeating, smoking, and drinking.

Masculinity and Stoicism are a real problem for men: Traditional ideas of masculinity often emphasize toughness, stoicism, and self-reliance. Men may feel that admitting to health issues or seeking medical help is a sign of weakness, leading them to avoid taking action regarding their health

Tough It Out Mentality: Many men are conditioned to "push through" physical discomfort or illness without seeking help, believing that it's part of being strong or resilient.

Invulnerability Belief: Men actually believe (more often than women) that they are less vulnerable to illness or health problems, leading them to engage in fewer preventive health measures

reduce your risks

Seek Understanding of Your Risks and Try to Mitigate Those Risks:

  • Calorie Consumption Risk: Men eat more calories than women by about 600 calories per day average. Every calorie eaten causes a metabolic stress as mitochondria have to convert the calories into human usable energy. The more energy conversion, the more free radicals are produced. The more free radicals produced that your body has to deal with the faster your body is damaged by those free radicals and deteriorates. Free radicals are especially hard on arterial linings. Men have higher blood sugar levels than women which causes more glycation damage (cross-linking of proteins) and causes more belly fat deposition leading to the sugar burning mode downward cycle of health.
  • Greater Cardiovascular Risk for Men in Their Younger Years: Women are protected during a significant part of their lives from arterial lining damage and sugar-protein-cross-linking that promotes plaque and cholesterol buildup. This protection of women is due to the natural estrogen-progesterone monthly cycle that is part of menstruation and that doesn’t cease until after menopause. Estrogen instructs the body to replicate and renew cells. Estrogen is basically a growth accelerator and enables the arterial linings in women to regrow after free radical damage. Once women go through menopause, this natural protection is lost and heart disease rates for women begin to accelerate. Men simply don't have this protection, and develop cardiovascular issues sooner than women as a result.
  • Visceral Fat Risk: Men generally have more visceral fat (fat stored around internal organs), which is strongly associated with elevated Leptin and insulin resistance. Elevated Leptin and insulin resistance lead to higher blood sugar levels because the body becomes less effective at using insulin to process glucose. Elevated Leptin also leads to more addictive behaviors as the Hypothalamus is always in a stress mode with high Leptin levels and seeks anything to feel less stress. Among the things that mean tend to seek to reduce stress include drinking, sex, and overeating.

What Specific Tactics Should Men Employ to Mitigate Their Unique Health Risks

  • Men's number one priority is to minimize cardiovascular risk. Men have cardiovascular problems much sooner in life than do women. Here are two keys to reducing cardiovascular risk:
    1. Consume Parent Omega Oils daily. These beneficial fatty acids incorporate into cardiovascular linings and help make them healthier and more resistant to damage.
    2. Consume beets daily as one of your highest priorities. Beets boost nitric oxide, and help cleanse cardiovascular and hormonal pathways.
  • Eat foods that are high in zinc and copper in order to boost antioxidant enzymes and strengthen tissues. We recommend OysterMax as oysters are the best source of zinc and are balanced with copper. These capsules are safe from bacteria that may be in fresh oysters.
  • Monitor blood sugar either with a CGM or monitor urine sugar with a refractometer. If your sugar levels are too high, change your diet until they're not high.

Facts Regarding Men’s Health

In 1900, men and women had equal life expectancies.

Eighty years later, women outlived men by nearly seven years. The outlook for men has improved lately so that now women outlive men by only by five years.

The reasons for this changing scenario is accounted for by the fact one hundred years ago:

  • Men and women both generally died at the same rates from infections, which was the leading cause of death.
  • Women deaths from childbirth complications were about equally balanced by men’s deaths from workplace accidents
  • Modern medicines have largely removed infections as a cause of death. And, doctors are much more capable of dealing with pregnancy complications and accident traumas.

So, now we are left with life expectancy being a matter of how well a person takes care of him/herself throughout his/her life.

  • And, in this regard, men are generally not as health conscious as women. For instance, only half as many men as women have a regular doctor.
  • As compared to women men are more likely to smoke and drink and take unnecessary risks.
  • Men are no longer as physically active as they were in previous eras. For instance, more than 50% of American men do not get enough daily physical activity (40 minutes of aerobic exercise) to provide health benefits in terms of avoiding fat deposition.

Men eat less healthy than women.

For instance, men eat more:

  • Meat
  • Shellfish
  • Runny eggs
  • Frozen hamburgers

Women eat more:

  • Carrots
  • Blueberries
  • Almonds and walnuts
  • Alfalfa sprouts
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Reducing the Calorie Consumption Risk of Men:

Some men are engaged in very strenuous physical activity and therefore eat larger than normal amounts of calories.

  • As long as a person burns off in physical activity all the calories eaten in a day and consumes ample antioxidants and other nutrients needed to repair from the coincidentally produced free radical damage, there may be no significant downside to eating those calories. (But, notice all those ifs.)

If, however, a person is eating more calories than are burned off each day in physical activity

  • then eventually the non-burned-off-calories will become visceral fat that will raise Leptin levels and decrease insulin sensitivity, leading to the sugar burning mode and chronic diseases.
  • Or, if one is not consuming extra antioxidants to protect against concidentally-produced free radicals, then the processing of those extra calories will create extra free radical damage to mitochondria, cells, and tissues.

Takeaway # 1: Manage your food intake so that your body doesn't store excessive visceral fat:


Make Sure that your bedtime weight is no more than two pounds greater than your morning weight, upon arising!

If your bed time weight is greater than two pounds higher than your morning weight take the action below.

  • If your evening weight is more than two pounds greater than morning weight then the next day should be designated as a "fast day" — meaning no food will be consumed, but you will drink only water and tea.
  • Alternatively, you can choose one of the following interruption diets for however many days it takes to regain the original morning weight. Option 1: apples and water only. No other foods. Option 2: water fast until evening and then eat a plain 8 ounce steak 3 hours before bed time.

Not Storing Visceral Fat Really Means Keep Your Metabolism in the Fat Burning Mode:

  • The cells of one's body can burn fat or sugar in order to create cellular energy with which to function. Burning fat generates less coincidentally produced free radicals than does burning sugar.
  • Whether one's body burns sugar or fat is determined by the Hypothalamus gland in the brain according to its measurement of Leptin molecules in the blood.
  • If the Hypothalamus detects ample amounts of Leptin (which signaling molecules are made in fat cells) in the blood the Hypothalamus will signal for the cells of the body to burn fat instead of store it. On the other hand if it doesn't detect ample Leptin it will direct that the body's cells to burn sugar and conserve and build up fat. (This is a survival mechanism.)
  • When Leptin levels rise too high, the Hypothalamus becomes insensitive to Leptin and reacts the same as if one had too little Leptin (too little fat) and puts the body in a sugar-burning, fat conserving mode.
  • So, once a person has accumulated a significant amount of body fat (which will create too many Leptin molecules) the body will remain in sugar burning, fat-conserving mode, forever... unless one reduces that belly fat and changes the lifestyle that created the belly fat in the first place.

A very important part of remaining in the fat burning mode is avoiding sugar and processed carbohydrates:

  • Because they raise blood sugar quickly and cause fat deposition.
  • Because Sugar-laden breakfast cereal, doughnuts, soda pop, etc. are everyone's worst enemy. They give nothing of value and take away life by damaging insulin response to the point that the body remains perpetually in a fat storage mode, instead of fat-burning mode.
  • Because they are addictive.
  • Because h high blood sugar levels cause glycation of our cells, which is the next greatest cause (after free radicals) of cellular aging and onset of chronic disease.
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Reducing Cardiovascular Risk

Since men don't have the protection afford by higher estrogen levels of women during their reproductive years, men need to seek to lower their risk in other ways. Here are some ways we recommend:

  • Avoid free radicals of all types: That means avoid airborne pollution, cigarette smoke, contaminated water, chlorinated water, pesticides, industrial chemicals, dental metals.
  • Avoid denatured oils: That means avoid all commercial vegetable oils. They have been highly processed so that they will not hold oxygen. When they incorporate into cell membranes, that reduces the ability of oxygen to pass from the bloodstream into the cell, permitting damage to the cardiovascular membranes.
  • Consume Parent Omega Oils: This is one of the most important health habits of all because it helps protect the cardiovascular linings from free radical damage through natural repair and maintenance processes. Click here to learn more about Parent Omega Essential Oils and their role in cardiovascular health.
  • Consume raw berries, nuts, and seeds, and supplements such as Berry Extreme, to get their protective anti-oxidizing polyphenols, carotenoids, etc. Also consume beets (or beet juice powder), hydrogen-rich water, probiotics (they release hydrogen into the gut which they permeates the blood stream.
  • Consume cell regenerators such as Fibroblast Growth Factors (this helps repair damaged cardiovascular membranes).
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Combating the Risk Inherent in Visceral Fat

Having 20 extra pounds of visceral fat can significantly increase your risk for various health problems. Visceral fat is the type of fat that surrounds internal organs in the abdominal cavity, and it is more dangerous than subcutaneous fat (fat beneath the skin) due to its proximity to vital organs. Here are the main health problems you might expect if you carry excess visceral fat:

  1. Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

    High blood pressure: Visceral fat can cause your blood vessels to constrict, raising your blood pressure and increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke.

    High cholesterol: Excess visceral fat is linked to higher levels of LDL ("bad") cholesterol and lower levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol, which increases your risk for coronary artery disease and other heart problems.

    Inflammation: Visceral fat releases inflammatory substances called cytokines that promote chronic inflammation in your body, damaging arteries and contributing to heart disease.

  2. Insulin Resistance and Type 2 Diabetes

    Insulin resistance: Visceral fat interferes with the way your body responds to insulin, leading to insulin resistance. This can cause your blood sugar levels to rise, increasing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

    Higher blood sugar levels: Over time, insulin resistance leads to elevated blood sugar, making it more difficult for your body to regulate glucose, which is a hallmark of diabetes.

  3. Metabolic Syndrome

    Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. These include:

    • High blood pressure
    • High blood sugar
    • Abnormal cholesterol levels
    • Excess body fat around the waist

    Having 20 extra pounds of visceral fat significantly increases the likelihood of developing metabolic syndrome.

  4. Fatty Liver Disease

    Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD): Excess visceral fat can cause fat to accumulate in the liver, leading to fatty liver disease. This condition can progress to more serious liver problems such as inflammation (steatohepatitis) and cirrhosis.

    Liver inflammation: Visceral fat can promote liver inflammation, leading to long-term damage if left untreated.

  5. Hormonal Imbalances

    Leptin resistance: Leptin is a hormone that helps regulate hunger and fat storage. Excess visceral fat can lead to leptin resistance, making it harder for your body to regulate appetite and leading to overeating.

    Cortisol levels: Visceral fat is associated with higher levels of cortisol (the stress hormone), which can further promote fat storage and worsen weight gain.

  6. Higher Risk of Certain Cancers

    Visceral fat is linked to an increased risk of cancers, including colon cancer, breast cancer, and pancreatic cancer. The inflammatory environment created by visceral fat can promote cancer cell growth.

  7. Respiratory Problems

    Excess visceral fat can reduce lung function and contribute to conditions like sleep apnea, where breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. It can also make it harder to breathe deeply, leading to shortness of breath or other respiratory issues.

  8. Reduced Organ Function

    Because visceral fat surrounds vital organs (such as the liver, kidneys, and intestines), it can impair their function. Over time, this can contribute to a range of organ-related health issues, such as kidney disease or reduced liver function.

  9. Cognitive Decline

    Recent research suggests that high levels of visceral fat are linked to an increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia. The chronic inflammation caused by visceral fat can damage brain cells and blood vessels in the brain.

  10. Joint Pain and Mobility Issues

    Excess visceral fat increases overall body weight, which can put more stress on your joints, leading to joint pain and increasing the risk of conditions like osteoarthritis.

  11. Weakened Immune System

    The chronic inflammation associated with visceral fat weakens the immune system, making it harder for your body to fight off infections and illnesses.

What You Can Do to Reduce Risks of Visceral fat:

Having an extra twenty pounds of visceral fat is a risk that simply isn't worth having. We recommend removing that risk from your life, and enjoying the many extra years of health and life that can result. Here's how to get started on this:

  1. Exercise regularly: Aerobic exercise and strength training are particularly effective at reducing visceral fat.
  2. Healthy diet: Focus on a diet rich in whole foods, vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, and healthy fats while reducing your intake of processed foods, sugar, and adulterated fats.
  3. Reduce stress: Stress management techniques such as meditation, deep breathing, or yoga can help lower cortisol levels and reduce visceral fat.
  4. Sleep well: Adequate sleep is essential for regulating hormones that control appetite and fat storage.
  5. Limit alcohol: Excessive alcohol consumption is associated with an increase in visceral fat.
  6. Decide that you will do whatever it takes to become and remain a fat burner the rest of your life.
  7. Make a two pounds rule rule for your life that if just before going to bed you weigh more than 2 pounds more than your morning weight (weight upon arising), you will fast for 24 hours the following day.
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