Visceral fat: Too Much Can Cause health Problems

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Visceral fat: Too Much Can Cause health Problems


Visceral fat is something that everyone has. It’s a layer of soft, cushioning protection around several of your internal organs. It also has a role in how your body stores and uses energy. But you can have too much of this good thing. And having too much may increase your risk of health problems.

Visceral fat is something that everyone has. It’s normal, healthy and part of how your body develops and works. But having too much visceral fat isn’t a good thing.


A study in European Heart Journal used AI to evaluate imaging from more than 21,000 folks and found that hidden visceral belly fat speeds up stiffening of blood vessels and arteries and inflammation of the heart. And you can be a “healthy weight” and still be at risk from your visceral fat deposits.

What makes this life-shortening fat accumulate? Eating a lot of processed and sugar-added foods, as well as poor sleep and chronic stress, can cause your body to make more visceral fat than it can burn up.


Function

What does visceral fat do?

Visceral fat is sometimes called “active fat” because it plays an active role in how your body functions. Having some visceral fat is normal and healthy. It cushions and protects your internal organs. But having too much visceral fat may be harmful.

Research links having too much visceral fat to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

Anatomy

Where is visceral fat located?

  • Visceral fat cushions or surrounds several internal organs, including your:Heart
  • Intestines
  • Kidneys
  • Liver and gallbladder
  • Mesentery
  • Pancreas
  • Stomach

Belly fat includes both visceral and subcutaneous fat.


What is visceral fat made of?

Visceral fat consists of adipocytes, or fat cells. The adipocytes in visceral fat are sensitive to hormones, chemical messenger molecules that your body uses. That can affect the way your body uses (metabolizes) and stores fat.

Metabolic syndrome conditions like diabetes often change how your body handles hormone signals. That might explain why having more visceral fat raises your risk of having cardiovascular disease.


What causes visceral fat?

Everyone has some amount of visceral fat. Genetics contribute to how much you have and where it is in your body. That’s part of what determines your body’s shape.

But environmental factors and your choices also influence how much visceral fat you have. For example, eating fatty foods and carbohydrates (sugars) can make your body form more visceral fat. And if you aren’t active enough, you’ll make more visceral fat than your body uses for energy.

While you might not realize it, stress can also play a role in visceral fat. One hormone that can affect visceral fat adipocytes is the stress hormone cortisol. It makes your body add to its store of visceral fat.

Conditions and Disorders

What are some conditions and disorders that affect visceral fat?

The most common conditions that affect visceral fat are obesity and related issues, including:

  • Diabetes
  • High cholesterol
  • Circulatory system diseases, like atherosclerosis

But certain endocrine system diseases can also affect visceral fat. Most of these aren’t common, but they can be very serious. 


Examples include:

Signs or symptoms of diseases that affect visceral fat

The main indications of an issue affecting visceral fat are:

  • How much visceral fat you have
  • Changes, especially sudden ones, in how much you have

Since you can’t see or feel visceral fat, you have to rely on other ways to keep tabs on it. Your body shape and measurements are the best indicators of how much you have and if the amount changes.


Figuring out how much visceral fat you have

The normal visceral fat range should be about 10% of your body fat. You can figure out your visceral fat level by calculating your total body fat percentage and then taking off 10%. If you have a higher body fat percentage than recommended, your visceral fat range will be higher, too.


Total body fat percentage refers to the proportion of body weight that is composed of fat tissueIt is a measure of body composition that provides a more accurate assessment of health and fitness compared to body mass index (BMI). 

Healthy Total Body Fat Ranges: 

  • Men: 10-20%
  • Women: 18-28% 

These ranges may vary slightly depending on age, gender, and other factors. For example, older adults may have a higher TBF% than younger adults. 

Methods for Measuring TBF: 

Body fat distribution

There are a few ways you can check your body fat distribution:


-Waist measurement: Wrap a tape measure around your waist just above your hip bones. For females, 35 inches or more means you’re at risk for health problems stemming from visceral fat. For males, the number is 40 inches or more.

-Waist-to-hip ratio: Measure your waist size and your hip size (wrap a tape measure around the widest part of your hips). Divide your waist size by your hip size. A waist-to-hip ratio above 0.85 in females and 0.90 in males indicates abdominal obesity.

Waist-height ratio: Divide your waist size by your height. Your weight circumference should be no more than half of your height measurement. 
Research shows that having a ratio higher than that can raise your risk of circulatory and metabolic diseases.

Taking these measurements and making sense of them by yourself can be tricky. If you have questions about your measurements or what they mean, there’s someone who can help. Talk to your primary care provider. They can answer your questions and offer guidance.

Care:

Is visceral fat hard to lose?

No, visceral fat is actually easier to lose than subcutaneous fat. If you’re consistent with staying active and managing what you eat, you can start to see fat loss in two to three months.

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is the best way to lose visceral fat. You can lower your visceral fat level using the same methods that help you lose weight and lower your total body fat. 


For instance: Stay active. Aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise a day, five days a week. You can use either cardio or strength training. Methods like high-intensity interval training (HIIT) are popular, too.

Manage what you eat. The Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet are examples of ways you can eat. Your primary care provider can also provide guidance on what to prioritize on your plate.

Intermittent fasting. This strategy is all about when you’re eating or not eating. It encourages your body to focus on burning stored fat.

Getting enough quality sleep. Not getting enough sleep puts stress on your body. That can make more visceral fat develop or make it harder to get rid of.

Reduce stress. Your body makes more cortisol if you’re stressed. And stress can contribute to weight gain.

Limit alcohol intake. Alcohol has a lot of “empty” calories. And too much alcohol can strain your liver, which also processes fat so your body can use it.

If you want a plan:


1. Build muscle with strength-training; 

2. Get your heart pumping to boost metabolism; 
3. Get a dose of protein with every meal; 
4. Eat more fiber — it helps prevent absorption of fat; 
5. Stick with black, filtered coffee, water and tea for beverages and limit alcohol; 
6. Walk for 15 minutes minimum after each meal; and 
7. Talk to your doc about getting a bio-impedance analysis or DEXA SCAN to assess your amount of visceral fat.

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