Visceral Fat

Visceral fat is a type of body fat you have deeper inside you. It gets its name from its location. Viscera is a term for internal organs and tissues. Visceral fat lines your abdominal walls and wraps around many of your internal organs.

What does visceral fat do?

Visceral fat is sometimes called “active fat” because it plays an active role in how your body functions. Having some visceral fat is normal and healthy. It cushions and protects your internal organs. But having too much visceral fat may be harmful. Research links having too much visceral fat to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

Where is visceral fat located?

Visceral fat cushions or surrounds several internal organs, including your:

• Heart
• Intestines
• Kidneys
• Liver and gallbladder
• Mesentery
• Pancreas
• Stomach

Belly fat includes both visceral and subcutaneous fat.

What is visceral fat made of?

Visceral fat consists of adipocytes, or fat cells. The adipocytes in visceral fat are sensitive to hormones, chemical messenger molecules that your body uses. That can affect the way your body uses (metabolizes) and stores fat.

Metabolic syndrome conditions like diabetes often change how your body handles hormone signals. That might explain why having more visceral fat raises your risk of having cardiovascular disease.

What causes visceral fat?

Everyone has some amount of visceral fat. Genetics contribute to how much you have and where it is in your body. That’s part of what determines your body’s shape.

But environmental factors and your choices also influence how much visceral fat you have. For example, eating fatty foods and carbohydrates (sugars) can make your body form more visceral fat. And if you aren’t active enough, you’ll make more visceral fat than your body uses for energy.

While you might not realize it, stress can also play a role in visceral fat. One hormone that can affect visceral fat adipocytes is the stress hormone cortisol. It makes your body add to its store of visceral fat.

What are some conditions and disorders that affect visceral fat?

The most common conditions that affect visceral fat are obesity and related issues, including:

• Diabetes
• High cholesterol
• Circulatory system diseases, like atherosclerosis

But certain endocrine system diseases can also affect visceral fat. Most of these aren’t common, but they can be very serious. Examples include:

• Certain types of fat tissue disorders (lipodystrophies)
• Cushing syndrome
• Hypothyroidism
• Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis

Signs or symptoms of diseases that affect visceral fat

The main indications of an issue affecting visceral fat are:

• How much visceral fat you have
• Changes, especially sudden ones, in how much you have

Since you can’t see or feel visceral fat, you have to rely on other ways to keep tabs on it. Your body shape and measurements are the best indicators of how much you have and if the amount changes.

Figuring out how much visceral fat you have

The normal visceral fat range should be about 10% of your body fat. You can figure out your visceral fat level by calculating your total body fat percentage and then taking off 10%. If you have a higher body fat percentage than recommended, your visceral fat range will be higher, too.

Body fat distribution

There are a few ways you can check your body fat distribution:

• Waist measurement: Wrap a tape measure around your waist just above your hip bones. For females, 35 inches or more means you’re at risk for health problems stemming from visceral fat. For males, the number is 40 inches or more.
• Waist-to-hip ratio: Measure your waist size and your hip size (wrap a tape measure around the widest part of your hips). Divide your waist size by your hip size. A waist-to-hip ratio above 0.85 in females and 0.90 in males indicates abdominal obesity.
• Body mass index (BMI): BMI measures your body fat based on your height and weight. A BMI of 30 or more indicates you may have overweight and could have a higher level of visceral fat.
• Waist-height ratio: Divide your waist size by your height. Your weight circumference should be no more than half of your height measurement. Research shows that having a ratio higher than that can raise your risk of circulatory and metabolic diseases.

Taking these measurements and making sense of them by yourself can be tricky. If you have questions about your measurements or what they mean, there’s someone who can help. Talk to your primary care provider. They can answer your questions and offer guidance.

How do you get rid of visceral fat?

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is the best way to lose visceral fat. You can lower your visceral fat level using the same methods that help you lose weight and lower your total body fat. For instance:

• Stay active. Aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise a day, five days a week. You can use either cardio or strength training. Methods like high-intensity interval training (HIIT) are popular, too.
• Manage what you eat. The Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet are examples of ways you can eat. Your primary care provider can also provide guidance on what to prioritize on your plate.
• Intermittent fasting. This strategy is all about when you’re eating or not eating. It encourages your body to focus on burning stored fat.
• Getting enough quality sleep. Not getting enough sleep puts stress on your body. That can make more visceral fat develop or make it harder to get rid of.
• Reduce stress. Your body makes more cortisol if you’re stressed. And stress can contribute to weight gain.
• Limit alcohol intake. Alcohol has a lot of “empty” calories. And too much alcohol can strain your liver, which also processes fat so your body can use it.

Is visceral fat hard to lose?

No, visceral fat is actually easier to lose than subcutaneous fat. If you’re consistent with staying active and managing what you eat, you can start to see fat loss in two to three months.