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    Research shows that one kind of belly fat can be healthier than others: people with obesity who get regular aerobic exercise have healthier belly fat tissue — specifically, that subcutaneous fat stored just beneath the skin — than nonexercisers with obesity


    Research shows that one kind of belly fat can be healthier than others: people with obesity who get regular aerobic exercise have healthier belly fat tissue — specifically, that subcutaneous fat stored just beneath the skin — than nonexercisers with obesity

    https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/regular-exercise-may-lead-healthier-belly-fat-study-finds-rcna170213

    Bytes Europe

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    5 Comments

    1. giuliomagnifico on

      >The fat, the study found, essentially behaved differently in people with the same percentage of body fat, based on their long-term exercise habits.
      >
      >Horowitz and his team recruited 32 people (half male, half female) who were overweight or had obesity. Sixteen had exercised at least four times a week for at least two years — the average amount of regular exercise was actually 11 years — while the others lived more sedentary lives. Each person was matched for age, biological sex, body fat percentage and body mass index, or BMI. 
      >
      >The researchers took samples of fat tissue from each person’s belly and measured the amount of blood flow in each person’s fat tissue, markers of inflammation, and the rigidity and fibrousness of the tissue.
      >
      >They revealed that **exercise appeared to cause biological and structural changes in belly fat, also called adipose tissue, that lowered a person’s risk for heart disease and metabolic disorders such as Type 2 diabetes.**

      Paper: [Years of endurance exercise training remodel abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue in adults with overweight or obesity | Nature Metabolism](https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-024-01103-x)

    2. dethskwirl on

      If you have one of those big round hard ‘beer bellies’, then it’s visceral fat around your organs and is really unhealthy.

      If you have love handles and a soft pudgy gut but otherwise skinny, then it’s just subcutaneous fat under your skin and on top of your muscles which isn’t that unhealthy and easier to shed.

    4. LeoSolaris on

      It is awesome to see reporting on research into the idea of healthy, functional adipose tissue. It’s something that is too poorly understood by the public. Humans need to exercise to the point where even our fat cells function better when we do.

    5. the_ion on

      I think similar studies have been done on Japanese Sumo Wrestlers. Their body fat acts differently due to their training and the way they gain the fat and they tend to be viewed as healthier.