Mini Mikkipedia - Metabolic Mastery: Why Reducing Visceral Fat is Important
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you
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Hey everyone, Mikki here. You're listening to Mini Mikkipedia on a Monday and I'm carrying on with my metabolic mastery series. And today I am focusing on visceral fat, talking about understanding it better in different contexts, risks. So what places you at greater risk and also what about strategies for reduction. And I know in other podcasts like insulin resistance,
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Absolutely a lot of this is covered, but I just thought I'd want to put it all in one place. And it's absolutely tied to the other topics that I've been chatting about. So visceral fat, unlike subcutaneous fat, which is just under the skin. And if so, if you took a pinch of say around your hips, on your thighs, on your butt, the soft fat that you can pick up,
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That subcutaneous, it's under the skin, it's fairly inert is how people describe it. Visceral fat is stored deep within the abdominal cavity and it's wrapping around internal organs such as the liver, pancreas and intestines. And initially visceral fat does serve a functional role in cushioning and supporting organs. However, excess accumulation can lead to significant metabolic disruptions.
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and it's not something that you necessarily see. Unlike other fat stores, visceral fat behaves more like an endocrine organ, so it releases inflammatory cytokines and hormones that influence whole body metabolism. However, what I would say of course, is there is the other types of fats that I'm not really covering today, but it's like the brown fat and the beige fat, and that contains a high number of mitochondria, which influences the color.
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that you might see if you were to view it. And that is, of course, metabolically active in a really good way. Visceral fat, though, in excess, tends to create a more inflammatory environment. And that is one of the issues with visceral fat. It produces pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6, TNF-alpha, C-reactive protein, and this drives systemic inflammation. And that's going to have
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impacts on your body's receptors ability to read messages from signal from enzymes and other chemicals that are trying to do their job properly. Excess visceral fat is strongly linked to impaired insulin signaling, a key driver, as you know, of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. It also contributes to higher levels of cholesterol, which are more atherogenic, so may build up
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in the artery walls and create issues around blood flow and lead to things like heart attacks and strokes and things like that. But also the inflammatory nature of the small fat, the systemic inflammation is really bad for vascular health as well. And it can also increase blood pressure, which as you know, by stiffening and hardening the arteries and increasing blood pressure is also bad for cardiovascular health.
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There is a connection between visceral fat and metabolic-associated fatty liver disease, which further exacerbates metabolic dysfunction. And there is emerging research which links visceral fat to increased risk of cognitive decline, Alzheimer's, and dementia. And systemic inflammation and hormone imbalances related to visceral fat can contribute to higher risks for certain cancers. Now I am going to talk about
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You know the link between visceral fat and estrogen and testosterone, but there are other hormones that are influenced by visceral fat. First of all, let's think about cortisol. I mentioned this in the cortisol episode, but chronic stress leads to elevated cortisol, which promotes fat storage, particularly in the abdomen region. Cortisol increases glucose release from the liver. This is of course an evolutionary response, triggering insulin resistance in making fats in the visceral area more likely.
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and sleep deprivation, overtraining for athletes and mental stress do and can keep cortisol levels high. And this can perpetuate visceral fat accumulation. And I do think that that elevation in cortisol that many women experience around perimenopause, et cetera, can drive some of that visceral fat, abdominal fat that we see. But leptin and ghrelin, which are appetite hormones, also play a role.
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which is common in increased that deposition, can disrupt the satiety signal. And it leads to overeating because leptin is the hormone that helps, keeps us satisfied and keeps us full. Grelin is a hunger hormone, and this spikes when we are sleep deprived or in a caloric deficit. And this can also increase the drive to eat and increase the drive to eat foods which are highly refined and processed for that sort of quick dopamine hit, but also that quick increase in blood sugar
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that we often are after. And poor meal timing exacerbates this hormonal dysregulation, which makes visceral fat loss harder. So obviously managing stress and optimizing sleep are just as important as diet and exercise in reducing visceral fat. An area I also want to talk about is like the beer belly and moobs. You guys know what I mean by moobs, right? So first of all, beer belly, which is the hard protruding abdomen.
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you often see in middle-aged men, but actually I'm seeing it more and more, like in men who are in their late 20s, early 30s. So characteristically it's a hard, round belly that many men develop, and it's primarily due to excess visceral fat, which pushes up against the abdominal wall. Unlike subcutaneous fat, which is soft and pliable, visceral fat sits behind the abdominal muscles, so this creates a firm protruding appearance.
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The contributing factors to this are a high calorie intake, potentially from beer is one of the risk factors. For example, 500 mL of beer contains around 200 to 250 calories, which quickly leads to a calorie surplus and fat gain. And I do actually just want to focus a little bit on this alcohol aspect here, because of course, regardless of what you drink, alcohol-wise, it does impact on metabolism.
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So the body prioritizes burning alcohol over fat and carbohydrates. It slows fat oxidation and increases visceral fat accumulation. Some beers, particularly the craft beer, is pretty carb-heavy, so it can also increase that spike of insulin and promotes fat storage. Alcohol in general alters gut bacteria and this increases inflammation and fat deposition. Much as the way we were talking about
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poor gut health can lead to insulin resistance last week. And alcohol can disrupt sleep patterns, which exacerbates those increasing cortisol and insulin responses that comes with disrupted sleep and sleep deprivation, both of which promote visceral fat gain. And then if we consider MOBs. So this is otherwise known as gynecomastia, which is the enlargement of breast gland tissue due to hormonal imbalances.
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higher estrogen and lower testosterone. There is also pseu and that is just chest fat accumulation due to subcutaneous fat rather than glandular growth. And I suspect that what we see when we see moobs in a lot of men is actually the pseudo-gynochomastia rather than true-gynochomastia. Alcohol and how this contributes is alcohol lowers testosterone, particularly beer.
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and it increases estrogen, so that promotes fat storage in the chest. Beer can also contain plant-based estrogens such as hops, and some people suggest that this can further disrupt male hormone balance. Visceral fat does actually convert testosterone to estrogen, so the more visceral fat you have, the greater that aromatization of testosterone to estrogen occurs, so that can compound the problem.
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alcohol, struggles to clear estrogen, so it leads to higher circulating estrogen levels, and men with higher visceral fat and insulin resistance are at greater risk of that gynecomastia or pseudogyncomastia, particularly people who drink more than 14 standard drinks a week and individuals that might be exposed to endocrine disrupting hormones such as
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the BPAs, processed foods and plastics. So that is something which I was thinking about as I was formulating this episode is, you know, what is it that contributes to that bare belly? Is it actually visceral fat or is it just subcutaneous fat and not as dangerous as what we think? And then what is that relationship between the gynecomastia or the MOBS and visceral fat? In fact,
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moobs are not visceral fat, but they're related to those other hormone changes, which I mentioned before, I think still as important to address because it is linked to metabolic health. So something else, which I just mentioned, is the role of the gut health and microbiome in visceral fat accumulation. So if there's an imbalance of bad bacteria in the gut, a dysbiosis, that can lead to inflammation and metabolic dysfunction. And a high processed fat
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does promote the release of these lipopolysaccharides, LBSs, into the bloodstream. This triggers systemic inflammation, encouraging visceral fat storage. Therefore, if you do have some sort of gut dysbiosis or increase in this sort of systemic inflammation from the lipopolysaccharides, that is what you want to address in addition to other things that can help you reduce visceral fat, and I'll talk about them in a minute.
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I mentioned the role of sleep in circadian rhythm. As you know, and I'll just repeat myself, higher cortisol and ghrelin, which is a consequence of lack of sleep, will lead to more cravings, particularly for sugar and fat. You've also got increased insulin resistance, so glucose is less efficiently used, leading to fat storage because it's more likely to be stored. And lack of sleep and high cortisol.
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does decrease melatonin because melatonin and cortisol sort of work in opposition to each other and this impacts mitochondrial function and metabolism. I mentioned meal timing a little bit but eating late at night does reduce the body's ability to burn fat efficiently and the liver doesn't love carbohydrate late at night. We are much more insulin sensitive at the start of the day than we are at the end of the day. So these are other things which could contribute to the visceral fat accumulation.
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Genetics, as I talked about, it doesn't rule everything, but it certainly can play a role in our overall health risk. Some people are genetically predisposed to store more visceral fat due to variations in genes like the FTO gene, which is linked to a higher appetite and fat accumulation, the PPARG gene, which influences fat cell differentiation. I mentioned...
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that fat cells that are hypertrophic, which don't differentiate, are more problematic than the ones that differentiate. And also the IRS1 gene, this affects insulin sensitivity. In addition, prenatal stress, childhood obesity, and even maternal and paternal diet during pregnancy, so both mother and father, does influence how and where fat is stored later in life.
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Lifestyle interventions though can override a lot of these challenges and understanding and knowing better your genetic profile can of course help, but the recommendations for reduced visceral fat probably don't change regardless of whether or not you know your genes. Briefly, let's chat about menopause, aging and visceral fat. There are some changes that occur in hormones across first into perimenopause and then of course postmenopause.
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So the declining estrogen leads to a shift from subcutaneous fat on the hips and thighs to more fat that's stored around the middle and with it more visceral fat, so more fat stored in and around the organs. The lower estrogen level also increases insulin resistance and inflammation because estrogen is an insulin sensitizing hormone and this further promotes that visceral fat storage. And also with aging comes sarcopenia or it can, which is muscle loss.
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and loss of muscle slows metabolism and reduces fat oxidation. So this is of course why we have the recommendations that I've talked about in the last couple of episodes and of course I will talk about here to help reduce that visceral fat storage. Lifestyle stuff is even more important as we age. There are environmental factors which can definitely influence visceral fat accumulation and we're beginning to understand this more. So there are plastics.
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chemicals such as BPA, phthalates, PFAS or polyfluoroalkylol substances and pesticides can all mimic estrogen and promote visceral fat accumulation. These are found in plastic containers, cosmetics, non-stick cookware and processed foods. BPA is a synthetic chemical used in plastics, food containers, water bottles and can linings.
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and its effect on visceral fat can increase fat cell differentiation, promote insulin resistance, and alter hormone balance leading to higher estrogen levels which can be problematic as I've just mentioned earlier. Whereas the per and polyfluoroalkyl substances, the PFAS, are a group of over 4,700 synthetic chemicals used in non-stick cookware such as Teflon.
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waterproof clothing, food wrappers, and firefighting foams. And then no one is forever chemicals because they don't break down in the body or the environment. And research suggests, emerging research suggests that these disrupt thyroid hormones, so can slow metabolism, promoting visceral fat accumulation, can also interfere with insulin signaling and increase inflammation. And we often talk about BPAs,
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And you know that there are Bisphenols, which are not BPA, but they may just be as harmful, such as BPS, BPF, BPAF, and BPB. And these are found in things like the receipts that you get over there from the supermarket or from any store, BPA replacements and plastics and food containers. Bisphenol AF are used in electronics and plastics.
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and BPBs are found in some plastics. And some of the health concerns around this is that it mimics estrogen, promotes visceral fat storage, and increases insulin resistance. And interestingly, BPAF are stronger endocrine disruptor than BPA, so it absolutely affects fat metabolism. And so BPA-free doesn't always mean safe, so just be mindful of that. And just so you know, the best approach with these endocrine
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disruptors is to reduce your exposure to them using glass, stainless steel or ceramic for food and drink storage and saying no to receipts. And if you work in a job that requires you to be touching those receipts that come out when you purchase something, you might want to wear some gloves. That is actually the recommendation. Anyway, moving on mitochondrial health and energy efficiency. So poor mitochondrial function can also lead to fatigue, reduced metabolism and
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So be mindful of that because this does increase your risk of visceral fat accumulation. And then chronic low grade infections such as H. pylori, Epstein-Barr can increase inflammation and visceral fat accumulation. And that's actually a whole issue within itself. And there are, I talked on my podcast to Dr. Krista Bella Yeo of mitochondrial health and infection and immune system. So that's actually really great.
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episode. We didn't talk about it as it pertains to visceral fat, but a lot of really great tips in there. So how do we reduce and avoid visceral fat? Some of the stuff we would have obviously covered because it's all in that metabolic health family. You guys know about protein intake. Aiming for a minimum of 1.6 to 2 grams per kg of body weight per day helps preserve lean muscle mass, improves satiety, reduces excess calorie intake. Focusing on a really good sort of whole food diet
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in reducing refined or high carbohydrate diets and of course sugar. So the carbohydrates that you do eat make them things like legumes, potato, kumara or sweet potato and low sugar fruits such as berries, they're more like fiber, apples and pears and things like that. Also thinking about your fiber intake, aiming for a minimum of
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10 grams per 1000 calories. And in fact, that's probably a bit low. Like even if you aim for 25 grams of fiber a day, I think that's a really good thing to sort of shoot for. And you can absolutely go for more as much as your gut can tolerate. Omega-3 fatty acids from actual foods such as fatty fish does reduce inflammation and improve fat metabolism. But I do have a recommendation for Omega-3s sort of beyond that. And also,
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which you can get this stuff measured as well, then restricting the window with which you eat could actually be quite helpful for you. Now, I didn't talk about how they measure visceral fat. And often it's measured using a dexa. So this is one of the most accurate ways to measure visceral fat because it provides a breakdown of fat distribution, distinguishing between that subcutaneous and visceral fat. This is often used in research and medical settings.
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You can also use an MRI or a CT scan. And CT scan is considered the gold standard for measuring visceral fat, providing that cross-sectional image of fat distribution. MRI scans do offer high accuracy, but are expensive and probably not available for routine use. And BIA machines, bioelectrical impedance. Some of those advanced body composition scales estimate visceral fat, but I mean, these are less accurate and I wouldn't...
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wouldn't sort of hang my hat on this, they may be helpful for tracking trends over time. But of course a simple waist circumference measure where if you're a man, if you're a guy, a waist circumference above 102 centimeters or 40 inches indicates high visceral fat, whereas a woman above the 88 centimeters or 35 inches also suggests increased risk. And that would be measured at the smallest part of the torso.
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or at the belly button while standing exhaling gently. I mentioned waist to height ratio of point less than 0.5 as being ideal for metabolic health. For example, if someone is 170 meters tall, their waist should ideally be under 85. There will be some structural sort of differences, individual differences here. Just do remember that. And a higher body fat percentage measured using calipers,
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especially in the abdominal region would suggest a higher visceral fat level. So these are the different ways that you can measure, but I think that using the DEXA or a CT scan, I'm not sure how many people would actually use that, could actually be the way that you would look at that. Now, exercises. So resistance training increases muscle mass, as you know, which enhances our metabolic rate, improves insulin sensitivity. It is the
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organ of longevity and it's the reservoir where our glucose is stored. So the more muscle, the more glucose you can store. High intensity interval training hit is effective at mobilizing visceral fat even with these short duration sessions. So things like sprint intervals, kettlebell swings, battle ropes, things like that. And of course, any kind of aerobic training can enhance fat oxidation.
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and will reduce visceral fat accumulation over time when combined with a calorie deficit. And always, of course, just move, both in activity and out of activity, in addition to that sort of non-exercise activity thermogenesis, walking, standing, things like that, will help increase the caloric burn, reducing overall fat distribution or overall fat accumulation in the presence of a calorie deficit, reducing that visceral fat. If we think about supplements,
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We do have a bit of a list and look, supplements are just that. They would supplement at your overall protocol. But something like berberine at 900 to 1500 milligrams a day divided in two to three doses, taken before meals can improve insulin sensitivity. And it's actually comparable to metformin for blood sugar control. Anything that helps with blood sugar stability will help with visceral fat reduction.
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Omega-3 fatty acids, so 2000 to 3000 milligrams a day or two to three grams a day. Looking at both EPA and DHA, which hits and targets both reducing inflammation and also increasing that plasma membrane content of the omega-3s. So it can also improve lipid metabolism. Curcumin, which is a tumeric extract that's in a form such as with piperin or as Meriva.
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or therachermin at 500 to 1000 mg a day. It is a potent anti-inflammatory. Green tea extract EGCG, 200 to 400 mg a day. AIDS and fat oxidation enhancing thermogenesis potentially. This is all in the context of a calorie deficit, by the way. Magnesium, three to 400 mg a day as a glycinate, a citrate or threonate or malate.
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to help support blood sugar stability, insulin sensitivity, potentially reduce cortisol, and it can have an effect on the brain, reducing anxiety and things like that. Zinc at 10 to 30 milligrams a day as a picolinate or biglycinate may enhance testosterone levels, help insulin function, and it also is involved in digestion and gut health. Probiotics, looking at 10 to 50 billion colony forming units a day.
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Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium for gut health and fat metabolism, but also butyric acid, which you see in the pendulum supplement, which I really love. That helps increase that butyrate, which is what the gut bacteria feed on in a good way. Vitamin D3, 2,000 to 5,000 international units a day along with K2, supports hormone balance and metabolic health. Resveratrol is also
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I don't think that's overly bioavailable. I'm unsure about that, but 250 to 500 milligrams a day. Alfalapalk acid is often mentioned in the context of metabolic health. 300 to 600 milligrams a day enhances insulin sensitivity and mitochondrial function, best taken before meals. Then you've got alkanitine. Dom Dagostino talks a lot about alkanitine. He takes three to six grams a day.
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to help the shuttling of fat to be used as an energy source. So these are all some things to consider when you are thinking about visceral fat, if you know that this is something that you want to reduce. And I would say that if you're carrying excess weight, particularly around the abdomen, then that is something that you do wanna address. So hopefully some of this stuff may be helpful for you if you're not already doing it, albeit you probably already are. All right, guys, you have a great week.
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You can, if you've got any feedback questions, et cetera, drop me a line @mikkiwilliden Instagram, threads, or Twitter, @mikkiwillidennutrition Facebook, or head to my website mikkiwilliden.com and book a one-on-one call with me. We can talk about whether your strategy for reducing visceral fat is gonna actually move the needle. All right, have a great week.