Exercise Beats Diet

By Jason Myers

Visceral fat, seems bad doesn't it? It's the layer of fat that circles the internal organs of your abdomen. In other words it's your "beer belly" or "beer gut." Excesses of fat are dangerous factors for heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

What makes stomach fat so vital over other kinds of body fat are the inflammatory molecules that visceral fat creates and releases into the bloodstream. These inflammatory molecules flow throughout the body and can generate a condition known as metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome presents with symptoms like elevated blood pressure and decreased HDL cholesterol.

The first and most usual recommendation to fight metabolic syndrome is to create alterations in lifestyle, specifically to reduce calories in the diet and increase activity levels. A recent study by the University of Illinois has presented that exercise only may be simply as effective as the mixture of diet and exercise.

The twelve-week study was done on mice in four divisions: a sedentary control division, a diet-only group, an exercise-only group, and a group that mixed a low fat diet combined with exercise. The only big differences in the visceral fat in the mice at the conclusion of the research were found in the two divisions that included exercise. Even though the exercise-only division maintained a high fat diet, the exercise established to be enough to decrease the inflammatory abdominal fat.

This is persuading information for individuals with a "pot belly" who are starting to present symptoms of metabolic syndrome. The exercise program devised for the research was at a very modest level. The human equivalent of the exercise would be a 30 to 45 minute stroll five days a week. The same amount of exercise is suggested by the U.S. Department of Health to decrease the danger of other chronic diseases.

Health advantages can be obtained for many individuals by engaging in physical activity. This research supplements that claim by presenting direct connection linking exercise and decreased abdominal fat. It's just additional evidence that you should spend time in your life for a little of physical activity each day. - 30241

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