Fiber Fights Fat

Visceral fat, the fat deep in the belly surrounding vital organs, can be dangerous to overall health. Kristen Hairston, from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and colleagues urge that the way to reduce visceral fat is simple: Eat more soluble fiber from vegetables, fruit and beans, and engage in moderate activity.

The team completed a longitudinal study involving 1,114 men and women that examined whether lifestyle factors, such as diet and exercise frequency, were associated with a five-year change in abdominal fat, with CT scans (to measure fat) administered at the study’s start and conclusion.  The researchers found that for every 10-gram increase in soluble fiber eaten per day, visceral fat was reduced by 3.7 percent over five years.

Factoring that with the observation that increased moderate activity led to a 7.4 percent decrease in the rate of visceral fat accumulation over the same time period, they reported that soluble fiber intake and increased physical activity “were related to decreased [visceral adipose tissue] accumulation over five years.”

Hairston, K.G., et al. (2011). Lifestyle factors and five-year abdominal fat accumulation in a minority cohort: The IRAS family study. Obesity. In press.

—Dr. Bob Goldman
www.WorldHealth.net

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