Almost nine in 10 people are not aware of the risks of carrying extra fat around their waistline. A survey of 12,000 Europeans found most had no idea that a thick waist was a sign of a build-up of a dangerous type of fat around the internal organs. The report from GlaxoSmithKline, who make weight loss drug Alli, said this ‘visceral fat’ is strongly linked with type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Most people would lose weight once they found out the risk, the survey found. Report author Dr Terry Maguire, honorary senior lecturer at Queen’s University in Belfast, said people did not know that visceral fat, which you cannot see or feel and which sits around the organs in the abdomen, is there or that it poses a problem. It is thought that the danger of visceral fat is related to the release of proteins and hormones that can cause inflammation, which in turn can damage arteries and enter the liver, and affect how the body breaks down sugars and fats. Only a quarter of those questioned in the Europe-wide study thought being overweight was a risk to long-term health at all. […]