Visceral fat, or deep-lying abdominal fat stores, is considered the most detrimental to health. Having large fat stores deep in the abdomen sets you up for insulin resistance, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The best way to reduce such fat stores is through exercise and diet. The question is, What’s the most effective exercise for reducing this dangerous fat?
Researchers from Duke and East Carolina universities devised a study to focus on that issue, reporting their findings at the 2003 American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) annual meeting in San Francisco in late May. The subjects consisted of 111 overweight men and women, age 40 to 65, randomly assigned to either a control group that did no exercises or to one of three exercise groups:
- 12 miles walking each week
- 12 miles jogging each week
- 20 miles jogging each week
The study lasted eight months. Those in the inactive control group gained 1.1 kilograms of weight, increasing their visceral fat deposits by 10 percent. The walking group lost 1.3 kilograms of weight, losing 3.3 percent visceral fat. The 12-mile jog group lost 1.1 kilograms of bodyweight and reduced visceral fat by 5.9 percent. The 20-mile jog group lost 3.5 kilograms of bodyweight and 10 percent visceral fat. Only those in the 20-mile jog group showed a loss of subcutaneous fat, or fat just under the skin, which was 7.6 percent.
The results show that for purposes of reducing visceral fat, the more exercise, the better. The level of exercise intensity is also important, as the 12-mile-jog group showed better results than the 12-mile-walk group. Another notable point is that visceral fat continued to increase in the sedentary group, showing that future serious health problems are inevitable in obese people who don’t exercise.
©,2013 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited.
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