State-of-the-art technology has discovered what happens to visceral fat when following an intermittent fasting diet – and it’s not good news. The body responds by storing excess fat. Dr Mark Larance, who led the investigation, said: “Visceral fat can be resistant to weight loss after long periods of dieting.” His research team, based at the University of Sydney, examined fat tissues to understand its response to every-other-day fasting.
Future research may uncover the mechanisms by which this resistance occurs.
The research team did note that the findings may not apply to different diet regimes, such as the 5:2 diet, where people fast for two days out of seven.
In addition, the results do not reflect what happens when people undergo a calorie-restricted diet in order to lose weight.
How to lose visceral fat
Harvard Medical School encouraged people hoping to lose visceral fat to “keep moving”.
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It’s also key not to smoke, which encourages fat to be stored in the belly.
In addition, good quality sleep – up to eight hours per night – has been linked to lower visceral fat levels.
Managing stress levels will also be helpful, as cortisol (the stress hormone) has been associated with higher visceral fat deposits.
Moreover, diet is important too. As shown by the research outlined earlier, intermittent fasting is unlikely to work; it’ll be better to have a consistent healthy diet.
Source: Daily Express
