December 23, 2021
4 Potential Dangers of Visceral Fat
You may not realize it, but there are two kinds of fat in the body. The first is subcutaneous fat, which is the jiggly fat under the skin that you can grab and pinch. The second kind, which is more dangerous to our health, is visceral fat.
Visceral fat, which includes belly fat, can surround organs inside your body and keep things like the heart, stomach, liver, and intestines from working as they should by releasing toxins into the bloodstream.
In addition to belly fat, Center’s Health Care has a look at four dangers of visceral fat.
- Heart Disease
Studies have found that there’s a greater risk of a heart attack in people who have a normal body-mass index (BMI) but carry belly fat. In addition, a separate study found that women who had excess belly fat were up to a 20% greater risk of a heart attack than women who were heavier overall but didn’t have as much belly fat.
- Cancer
It’s believed that excess visceral fat leads to a higher risk of several different cancers in the core of the body, including colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer (especially in post-menopausal women), and uterine cancer.
- Liver Disorders
Fatty liver disease is on the rise as the United States deals with more obesity among its population, and visceral fat is likely to blame. This occurs when too much fat builds in the liver, leading to cirrhosis, cancer, or even liver failure.
- Kidney Damage
Like heart disease, people who are at a normal weight but contain extra fat around the belly have higher blood pressure in their kidneys, which can eventually damage blood vessels in them and eventually limit its ability to filter toxins in the bloodstream.
