30/10/2017
Too much visceral fat can interfere with how your liver functions and interrupt normal hormonal communications between your vital organs. This can lead to insulin resistance (the beginning of diabetes), high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and a higher risk for developing heart disease. High visceral fat storage has also been linked to breast cancer, colorectal cancer, stroke, Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
Not only that, but an larger waistline, combined with high blood pressure, high triglycerides (fat in the blood), low HDL (“good”cholesterol) and rising blood sugar characterizes Syndrome X, which starts with high visceral fat stores. But there is something you can do to stop and reverse the accumulation of this dangerous fat. Lifestyle changes including diet and exercise will help promote usage of visceral fat and lower your risk factors for developing heart disease.
So how do you know if you're at risk? The only way to tell for sure that your problem is visceral fat is to have an MRI or CT-scan, which are expensive both and often not medically necessary. However, if you have a waistline greater than 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, that's an indicator that you are carrying too much belly fat, even if you're a relatively healthy weight and generally in good health.
