Health
Intra-abdominal fat raises risk for metabolic syndrome
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Nov. 8, 2004
The location of fat within the body is a better risk indicator for metabolic syndrome and heart disease in older women than their level of obesity, according to a study in the November Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine examined 58 obese, postmenopausal women, one-half of whom had metabolic syndrome. They looked at not only whether the fat was carried on the hips or in the abdomen, but whether abdominal fat was stored between the skin and the abdominal muscle wall or as visceral fat that was wrapped around internal organs.
"Women with metabolic syndrome had 33% more visceral fat, but were similar in all other respects, including waist circumference, with almost exactly the same amount of subcutaneous fat and identical fat cell size" as women without metabolic syndrome, said Barbara Nicklas, PhD, associate professor at Wake Forest and the principal investigator in the study.
She noted that high-intensity exercise seems to preferentially reduce visceral fat but that general weight loss also provides improvement.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/11/08/hlbf1108.htm.
