Do you have a higher percentage of belly fat than fat in other locations such as the thighs or hips?

If so, you could be at risk for multiple health problems.  Even if belly fat isn’t a problem for you right now, it could become a problem as you age.

Before the middle of the 1990s, doctors and researchers considered fat cells to be nothing more than places the body stored fat for future use as an energy source.  But since that time they have discovered that fat cells are actually quite active.

It turns out that fat cells function a lot like glands that produce hormones and other molecules which can affect other parts of the body, leading to chronic health conditions.

There are two kinds of fat.

Subcutaneous fat, which makes up around 90% of all body fat, is a layer of fat stored just below the skin.  In some people, this is a thin layer; in others it is quite thick.  This type of fat can feel soft and squishy when you pinch or poke it.

Visceral fat is the second type of fat.  It occurs inside the abdominal wall,  filling up the spaces surrounding your internal organs.  You can’t feel it from the outside because the abdominal wall surrounding it is tough and firm.

Both of these fat types produce hormones but the visceral fat cells are more active and have a much more negative effect.

So what type of health problems are we talking about?

The hormones produced by visceral fat have been linked to these health conditions:

• high blood pressure
• type 2 diabetes
• higher triglycerides
• lower HDL (good cholesterol)
• colon cancer
• asthma
• dementia
• breast cancer
• rectal cancer

In the next post we’ll talk about how to know if you have visceral fat and what you can do about it.