Even after accounting for age, smoking, exercise, and other health problems, belly fat still links to depression and anxiety — meaning the connection isn’t just because of other health issues.

Scientific Claim

The association between abdominal obesity and psychiatric morbidity persists after adjusting for age, smoking, alcohol use, exercise, education, marital status, and multiple chronic diseases, suggesting that the link is not fully explained by these common confounders.

Original Statement

“Multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess associations between each obesity-related index and psychiatric morbidity... Covariates in the multivariate model included age, smoking status, drinking status, exercise habit, married status, educational status, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease, irritable bowel syndrome, gout and chronic kidney disease.”

From study:Abdominal Obesity Indices as Predictors of Psychiatric Morbidity in a Large-Scale Taiwanese Cohort

Evidence Quality Assessment

Claim Status

appropriately stated

Study Design Support

Design supports claim

Appropriate Language Strength

association

Can only show association/correlation

Assessment Explanation

The study appropriately uses multivariate adjustment and reports residual associations. The claim correctly avoids causal language and reflects the observational nature.

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

Abdominal Obesity Indices as Predictors of Psychiatric Morbidity in a Large-Scale Taiwanese Cohort

Cross-Sectional Study

Human

2025 Dec 19

Even after accounting for things like age, smoking, and exercise, people with more belly fat were still more likely to have depression or anxiety, suggesting belly fat itself might be linked to mental health in a way that’s not just caused by other lifestyle factors.

Contradicting (0)

No contradicting evidence found

Source Study

Abdominal Obesity Indices as Predictors of Psychiatric Morbidity in a Large-Scale Taiwanese Cohort

Score: 48

DOI: 10.3390/nu18010013

Similar Assertions

There could be other hidden factors — like diet, stress, or sleep — that make both belly fat and depression more likely, so we can’t be sure the fat itself is causing the mental health issues.

86%

Even though belly fat seems to link more strongly to depression in men than women, the overall pattern is the same for both — meaning the connection isn’t unique to one sex.

80%

We can’t tell if belly fat leads to depression, depression leads to weight gain, or if both happen together — because this study only looked at people at one point in time.

77%

In women, a marker of fat around internal organs is linked to depression or anxiety, but not in men — suggesting men and women may have different biological links between belly fat and mood.

76%

People with more fat around their waist and hips, compared to overall body weight, are more likely to have symptoms of depression or anxiety, especially in middle-aged Taiwanese adults.

74%