Scientists Name a Way to Reduce Harmful Belly Fat

A combination of diet and physical activity can help lower the risk of metabolic diseases by reducing harmful fat stored around the organs, a new study has shown.

It is well known that a healthy lifestyle helps with weight loss, but scientists increasingly emphasize that the location of fat in the body affects overall health, reports Euronews.

For example, subcutaneous fat is the fat that can be felt just under the skin. Visceral fat, or white adipose tissue—a dense, hidden fat located around the organs in the abdominal cavity—is considered more dangerous. It is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

“When people talk about changing body weight, they often refer to a single number on the scale. But not all cases of weight loss or gain are the same,” says Dr. Shayan Aryannejad, one of the study’s authors and a research fellow at Oxford University.

“We found that combining proper nutrition with increased physical activity is an effective way to improve not only weight but also the amount and location of fat stored in the body,” he added.

In the study, published in JAMA Network Open, researchers observed over 7,200 middle-aged adults in the UK for an average of seven years.

They found that people who ate healthier diets or exercised more gained weight—both subcutaneous and visceral fat—more slowly and had a lower risk of developing fatty liver disease compared to those who did not change their lifestyle. The best results were seen in individuals who combined exercise with a healthy diet.

On average, people who ate well and exercised gained 1.9 kilograms less overall body fat and 150 grams less visceral fat than those with a less healthy lifestyle—corresponding to about 7% of total body fat and 16% of visceral fat.

The link between diet, exercise, and visceral fat remained significant even after adjusting for body mass index (BMI), a general measure of obesity. This suggests that visceral fat is the first to decrease when people adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Dr. Nita Forouhi, another author of the study and Professor of Population Health and Nutrition at the University of Cambridge, said the findings indicate that improving diet and exercise in middle age can not only help with weight reduction but also lower the risk of metabolic diseases and promote healthier aging.

“Despite the challenges of living in environments that encourage unhealthy eating and inactivity, small, sustainable changes that improve diet and increase energy expenditure are beneficial,” Forouhi added.

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