Intermittent Fasting and Centralized Adiposity

In the last decade there has been a great deal of attention focusing on the ill effects of centralized excess body fat distribution. This is the over accumulation of deeper fat that surrounds vital organs in your abdomen such as the liver, pancreas and digestive tract. Not to be confused with subcutaneous fat – the superficial fat that lies directly underneath the skin typically located around the thighs, hips, buttocks and stomach, visceral fat increases a plethora of inflammatory bodily compounds called adipokines that contribute many of today’s chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, inflammatory bowel disease, atherosclerosis and certain types of cancer. An easy way to gauge dangerous levels of visceral fat is to measure waist circumference (WC). Males who measure over 40 inches and females who measure over 35 inches around are at increased health risk. This is even seen in people who are at a normal BMI, but carry excess fat centrally. Another simple way to determine an overabundance of visceral fat is to measure the waist to hip ratio (WHR). A WHR less than 0.9 in males and less than 0.85 in females are considered low health risk.