Tag: visceral fat

Categories : Ageing Cardiovascular DiseaseTags :

New Research Finds Visceral Fat is Linked to Heart Ageing

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Photo by Anna Shvets

Excessive amounts of visceral fat, the hidden fat surrounding organs, is linked with faster ageing of the heart, a new study has found. Ageing is the biggest risk factor for heart disease but why some people age faster than others isn’t fully understood.

The scientists leading the research, which is published in the European Heart Journal, say that visceral body fat could play an important role in accelerating ageing of the heart and blood vessels. This type of fat is known to be harmful to health and this study now links it to faster heart ageing.

Sex differences

The study, led by scientists from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Medical Sciences, also found differences between men and women. They discovered that fat around the hips and thighs could potentially slow heart ageing in women. The scientists analysed data from 21 241 participants in UK Biobank, which includes whole body imaging to map the amount of fat and where it is located in the body. The study was

Determining an individual’s ‘heart age’

The UK Biobank data also includes detailed imaging of the heart and blood vessels. Artificial intelligence (AI) was used to analyse these images to capture signs of organ ageing such as tissues becoming stiff and inflamed. An individual was given a ‘heart age’ which can be compared to their actual age at the time of the scan.

The risks of ‘hidden’ fat

The researchers found that faster heart ageing was linked to having more visceral adipose tissue. Visceral adipose tissue is fat found deep inside the abdomen around organs such as the stomach, intestines, and liver. This type of fat cannot be seen from the outside, and some people can have large amounts of visceral fat despite having a healthy weight.

Premature ageing

The researchers found signs on blood tests that visceral fat is linked to increased inflammation in the body, which is a potential cause of premature ageing. They also found differences between the sexes. Male-type fat distribution, which is fat around the belly and often called ‘apple-shaped’, was particularly predictive of early ageing in men.

The role of hormones

In contrast, a genetic predisposition to female-type fat, primarily fat on the hips and thighs, often called ‘pear-shaped’, was protective against heart ageing in women. The researchers also found a link between higher oestrogen levels in pre-menopausal women and a slowing of heart ageing. They suggested that this could indicate a role for hormones in protecting against heart ageing.

Increasing healthy lifespan

Professor Declan O’Regan, who led the research at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences and Imperial College London, said:

We have known about the apple and pear distinction in body fat, but it hasn’t been clear how it leads to poor health outcomes. Our research shows that ‘bad’ fat, hidden deep around the organs, accelerates ageing of the heart.

But some types of fat could protect against ageing, specifically fat around the hips and thighs in women.

We also showed that body mass index wasn’t a good way of predicting heart age which underscores the importance of knowing where fat is stored in the body and not just total body weight.

The goal of our research is to find ways to increase healthy lifespan. While being active is important, we found that hidden fat could still be harmful even in fit people.

In the future, we plan to investigate how drug therapies, such as GLP-1 inhibitors (for example, Ozempic) could improve not just diabetes and obesity but target the ageing effects of hidden visceral fat.

Source: UK Research Institute

Categories : Diet and Nutrition GenderTags :

In Women, Avocado Consumption Reduces Abdominal Visceral Fat

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Photo by Dirk Ribbler on Unsplash

An avocado a day could help reduce abdominal visceral fat in women and result in health benefits, researchers wrote in the Journal of Nutrition.

In a randomised study, women who consumed avocado as part of their daily meal experienced a reduction in deeper visceral abdominal fat, though glucose tolerance markers were unchanged.

Study leader Naiman Khan, professor of kinesiology and community health, at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign said:

“The goal wasn’t weight loss; we were interested in understanding what eating an avocado does to the way individuals store their body fat. The location of fat in the body plays an important role in health,” Prof Khan said.

“In the abdomen, there are two kinds of fat: fat that accumulates right underneath the skin, called subcutaneous fat, and fat that accumulates deeper in the abdomen, known as visceral fat, that surrounds the internal organs. Individuals with a higher proportion of that deeper visceral fat tend to be at a higher risk of developing diabetes. So we were interested in determining whether the ratio of subcutaneous to visceral fat changed with avocado consumption,” he said.

The participants were divided into two groups; one received meals incorporating a fresh avocado, and the other received a meal that had nearly identical ingredients and similar calories but without avocado. At the beginning and end of the trial, the researchers measured participants’ abdominal fat and their glucose tolerance, a measure of metabolism and a marker of diabetes.

Female participants who consumed an avocado a day as part of their meal had a reduction in visceral abdominal fat and experienced a reduction in the ratio of visceral fat to subcutaneous fat, indicating a redistribution of fat away from the organs. However, in males there was no change in fat distribution, and neither males nor females had improvements in glucose tolerance.

“While daily consumption of avocados did not change glucose tolerance, what we learned is that a dietary pattern that includes an avocado every day impacted the way individuals store body fat in a beneficial manner for their health, but the benefits were primarily in females,” Prof Khan said. “It’s important to demonstrate that dietary interventions can modulate fat distribution. Learning that the benefits were only evident in females tells us a little bit about the potential for sex playing a role in dietary intervention responses.”

The next step would be to provide all of the participants’ daily meals and look at additional markers of gut health and physical health for a more complete understanding of metabolic impacts and whether this sex difference persists.

Source: University of Illinois Alabama