Most of the fat found in your body is called subcutaneous fat; but did you know there is another type of fat in your system? It’s called visceral fat or abdominal fat. This type of fat surrounds the internal organs.
Studies show that people with high amounts of visceral fat are more prone to developing heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and hypertension. People who live a sedentary lifestyle such as smokers and heavy drinkers are reported to have more intra-abdominal fat, than those with active lifestyles.
Deeply embedded in the body’s tissues, visceral fat is harder to trim down compared to subcutaneous fat. The liver is responsible for metabolizing visceral fat and releases it to the bloodstream in the form of cholesterol. Bad cholesterol (Low-Density Lipoprotein, or LDL) builds into plaque that blocks the arteries, making visceral fat dangerous to your health, especially because it may cause serious inflammation. Visceral fat releases chemicals such as cytokines, adipokines, and chemokines, all of which are known to produce a slow, smoldering inflammation throughout the body.
According to researchers from Duke University Medical Center, regular exercise can vastly reduce the amount of visceral fat in your body, and stop it from building on your internal organs.
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