Regular practice of yoga can reduce the bulging girth of the abdomen in middle aged and overweight people.
Researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center who have conducted a study showed that regular practice of yoga for at least 30minutes of a week for four or more years can lead to arrest of weight gain in obese people in their middle ages.Researchers had looked into the data collected from 15,500 men and women in the age group of 45 and 55 years. People, who are at a normal weight, gained about 3 pounds less than people who did not practice yoga. The effect of yoga was the most on obese people of this age group. In the span of ten years, obese people of the age group had lost about 10 pounds than the people of the same BMI and age group who did not practice yoga.
Only a vigorous session of yoga can cause weight loss and the people who practiced yoga did not do that kind of yoga at all. The researchers feel that the weight loss is more due to the way yoga makes people aware of their bodies, than the direct burning of energy and the resultant weight loss.
Reference: Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, July 2005
