Different Types Of Belly Fat And What They Mean

Body fat is classified in several different ways. For instance, there is brown fat and white fat, plus different types of belly fat. White fat is what you normally think of as body fat. It’s storage for extra calories. Brown fat, on the other hand was designed to generate heat and keep a level body temperature. While white fat stores energy, brown fat burns it. You inherit the amount of brown fat you have and the more you inherit, the easier it is to lose weight.

Visceral fat compared to subcutaneous fat.

The location of the fat makes a difference when it comes to subcutaneous fat and visceral fat. While function, color and how it affects the energy in the body is the difference between white and brown fat, the location of the fat is one of the biggest differences between visceral and subcutaneous fat. The fat on thighs, buttocks and arms is just beneath the surface. It’s subcutaneous fat. Visceral fat is deeper inside and wraps around the organs.

Visceral fat is the most dangerous type of fat.

Studies show that people who have more visceral fat tend to have more instances of heart problems and stroke. They’re also more prone to other diseases. How do you know if you have visceral fat. Everyone has some to protect the organs, but people with a large waist circumference tend to have more. Visceral fat makes a protein called cytokines that cause inflammation, while narrowing the blood vessels. That increases blood pressure.

Cytokines can cause lipotoxicity.

Lipotoxicity starts if there’s an excess of fatty acids and triglycerides. When the excess fatty acids and triglycerides it creates go to the liver where they accumulate. That excess goes to non-fat cells. It normally goes to the cells of the kidneys, heart, liver and skeletal muscles, causing cellular dysfunction and sometimes cellular death. It can lead to insulin resistance, which leads to type 2 diabetes.

• Visceral fat is the hardest type of fat to lose and makes shedding the other type of fat more difficult, primarily due to the increased insulin resistance.
• Subcutaneous fat produces beneficial hormones that act like part of the endocrine system. Visceral fat produces more fat that’s bad for the body. It produces less leptin, which is the hormone that makes you feel full. It’s also the fat that produces less adiponectin, which regulates sugar and fat processing.
• Stress produces cortisol, which is linked to increased amounts of visceral fat. Exercise can help burn off the hormones of stress.
• A more recent study found that not only does sugar and sugary drinks cause visceral fat, but so does the diet soft drinks. The study found that people who drank more diet drinks had larger waistlines, which is an indication of visceral fat.

For more information, contact us today at Prime Fitness