Dr Zoe Williams discusses visceral fat on This Morning
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Visceral fat, also known as belly fat, lurks within the abdominal cavity near important internal organs such as the liver, pancreas and intestines. Its precarious positioning means it can interfere with vital bodily processes, hiking your risk of chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes. Reducing the amount of accumulated fat you’re carrying is therefore a top health priority.
Diet offers an effective antidote to visceral fat build-up, with certain items shown to work effectively against it.
Evidence suggests that supplementing with garcinia cambogia can help to ward off the belly fat.
Garcinia cambogia, also known as the Malabar tamarind, is an Indian fruit commonly taken as a weight-loss supplement.
While it’s anti-obesity effects have been well-studied, research published in the journal Elsevier sought to examine its effect on visceral fat specifically.
The study involved 12 weeks of garcinia cambogia supplementation to assess the impact it has on visceral fat accumulation.
For the study, the researchers enrolled volunteers aged 20 to 65 years with visceral fat.
Subjects were randomly assigned to receive treatment for 12 weeks with garcinia cambogia or placebo.
At the end of the treatment period, both groups were administered placebo for four weeks to assess any rebound effect.
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At 16 weeks, the garcinia cambogia group had significantly reduced visceral, subcutaneous, and total fat areas compared with the placebo group.
As opposed to visceral fat, subcutaneous is the type of fat that lies just beneath the surface of the skin.
In their concluding remarks, the researchers said that garcinia cambogia “reduced abdominal fat accumulation in subjects, regardless of sex, who had the visceral fat accumulation type of obesity.”
“It is therefore expected that garcinia cambogia may be useful for the prevention and reduction of accumulation of visceral fat.”
General dietary tips
While specific dietary interventions can help, there are general dietary principles you should heed to keep visceral fat at bay.
“If you want to reduce your belly fat, you’ll need to burn more calories (energy) than you consume, and eat the right kinds of food,” explains Bupa.
The health body recommends the following:
- Make sure you eat a balanced diet. Try to eat at least five portions of fruit and veg each day, and include higher-fibre starchy foods in meals
- Have some reduced-fat dairy or soya drinks fortified in calcium
- Eat more beans, pulses, fish and eggs
- Eat small amounts of unsaturated oil
- Drink six to eight glasses of water each dayAvoid adding salt or sugar to your meals.
“And finally, cut out sports drinks, sugar sweetened drinks and other foods that have a lot of added sugar in them,” it adds.
In addition to eating healthily, engaging in regular exercise can help to reduce the harmful belly fat.
Studies have shown that you can help trim visceral fat or prevent its growth with both aerobic activity (such as brisk walking) and strength training (exercising with weights).
According to Harvard Health, spot exercises, such as sit-ups, can tighten abdominal muscles but won’t get at visceral fat.
“Exercise can also help keep fat from coming back,” adds the health body.
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