A Reminder of the Harms Done by Excess Visceral Fat Tissue
Being overweight correlates with an increased risk of age-related disease and mortality in later life. The greater the excess weight, the greater the risk. A sizable fraction of this risk appears to be mediated by the metabolic activity of visceral fat cells, which promote chronic inflammation through a range of mechanisms. These include an increased burden of cellular senescence, visceral fat cells mimicking the signaling associated with infected cells, and an greater amount of debris from dying and dead cells that provokes a maladaptive inflammatory response from immune cells. Chronic inflammation is characteristic of aging, and is disruptive to tissue structure and function.
Body fat distribution in women changes as menopause progresses and estrogen levels decrease, causing the adipose tissue concentrated in the hips and thighs to gradually shift to the midsection as harmful visceral fat. This predisposes women to low-grade inflammation and cardiovascular diseases, which increase significantly after menopause. A study investigated the connection between health behaviours and low-grade inflammation. Health behaviours in this study include sleeping, eating and physical activity, and related disorders.
"In line with previous studies, a higher amount of visceral fat was, as expected, associated with low-grade inflammation. Visceral fat accumulated in the midsection secretes cytokines that increase inflammation, and this can increase the risk of metabolic diseases." The results show that those individuals who exhibit more disordered eating behaviour, as well as those who were physically less active, had more visceral fat, and thus the risk of low-grade inflammation was also higher. When eating and physical activity behaviours were examined together, higher physical activity was associated with lower visceral fat, especially in those women who did not display disordered eating behaviour.