Belly down to the juice bar

If you've been following my Vitamins and Minerals 101 posts here on That's Fit, you know that the importance of Calcium was just highlighted. Well, based a study published recently in the journal Public Health Nutrition, it appears as though prevention against the storage of abdominal fat should be added to that list.

A diet diet that is deficient in calcium and vitamin C (which I will probably cover on V&M101 in the next few weeks) may increase your chances of gaining weight in your midsection. Researchers reported that the possibility of being centrally obese was increased in women with low vitamin C intakes (less than 56 milligrams), low calcium intakes (less than 398 mg).

As for why this is the case, researchers point to previous studies showing that calcium and vitamin C's may reduce fat absorption and reduce abdominal adiposity.

The good news is that many foods contain both calcium and vitamin C. Spinach is the first that comes to mind, as is orange juice fortified with calcium.