Abdominal fat and metabolic syndrome

The distribution of body fat increases the risk of developing metabolic syndrome in women. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of disorders that raise the likelihood of heart disease and diabetes. Researchers from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA examined 58 obese women, to find whether all obese individuals are affected by metabolic syndrome or not.All the participants were post-menopausal and sedentary, but only 27 exhibited three or more of the components of the metabolic syndrome, which include high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglyceride levels, low HDL (good cholesterol), and a large waist circumference. The researchers estimated the women's body composition and used CT scans to measure fat deposits in different areas of the body. There were no differences in aerobic fitness, body weight, body mass index, fat mass, percent body fat, or the amount of subcutaneous fat between women who had the metabolic syndrome and those who did not. However, lean mass and the abdominal fat were significantly higher in the metabolic syndrome group, even after taking age into account. Researchers found that abdominal fat is probably the most important factor associated with the syndrome and heredity is probably the most important factor in determining fat distribution. Exercise causes intra-abdominal fat to be mobilized more quickly and individuals who lose weight with exercise rather than with dieting, experience selective loss of abdominal fat.