Visceral fat, seems evil doesn't it? It's the coating of fat that circles the internal organs of your abdomen. In layman's terms it's your "pot belly" or "beer gut." Excesses of fat are risk factors for heart illness and Type 2 diabetes.
What makes stomach fat so vital over other types of body fat are the inflammatory molecules that visceral fat produces and goes into the bloodstream. These inflammatory molecules flow through the body and can generate a condition recognized as metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome presents with symptoms like elevated blood pressure and decreased HDL cholesterol.
The first and most common recommendation to combat metabolic syndrome is to make alterations in lifestyle, specifically to decrease calories in the diet and increase activity levels. A recent study by the University of Illinois has shown that exercise only may be simply as effective as the mixture of diet and exercise.
The twelve-week study was conducted on rats in four groups: a sedentary control group, a diet-only group, an exercise-only group, and a group that mixed a low fat diet with exercise. The only big differences in the visceral fat in the rats at the conclusion of the study were found in the two groups that included exercise. Although the exercise-only group kept a high fat diet, the exercise established to be sufficient to decrease the inflammatory abdominal fat.
This is encouraging news for people with a "pot belly" who are starting to show symptoms of metabolic syndrome. The exercise program created for the study was at a very modest level. The human equal of the exercise would be a 30 to 45 minute stroll five days each week. The equal amount of exercise is recommended by the U.S. Department of Health to decrease the risk of other persistent diseases.
Health benefits can be reached for most people by taking on physical movement. This study supplements that claim by presenting direct correlation linking exercise and decreased abdominal fat. It's just additional evidence that you should spend time in your life for a bit of exercise each day.
