In order to reduce visceral fat and liver fat, it is important to improve overeating and lack of exercise, but in addition to that, "what to eat and how to spend" is also important. In this second part, I will introduce the points to reduce visceral fat along with the "new common sense" that is scientifically known to be related to visceral fat and fatty liver. The latest research has also revealed differences in the effects of dietary restrictions and exercise, and the risk of excessive fructose intake.
"New common sense of visceral fat" Special feature
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Dietary restrictions if you just want to lose weight and fat Exercise is important if you want to improve glucose metabolism
(Illustration: Chinatsu Asakura)If you find that you have a lot of visceral fat in a metabo medical examination, "There is no way to reduce only visceral fat, so you have to reduce the total body fat," says Professor Yoshihiro Ogawa of the Graduate School of Medicine, Kyushu University.
So which is more efficient, diet or exercise? Akiko Ito, director of the Akasaka Family Clinic, said, "In recent research, dietary restrictions can be expected to have some effect if only reducing weight and body fat, but abnormal glucose metabolism such as hyperglycemia and decreased insulin effectiveness and fatty liver. It has become clear that diet alone is not enough for countermeasures, and exercise is necessary . "
There is a study investigating the difference in weight loss effect and glucose metabolism ability between calorie-restricted diet and exercise in people with fatty liver. They found that calorie restriction reduced body weight and body fat more than exercise, but also reduced muscle mass.
On the other hand, in the case of exercise, although the decrease in body weight, body fat, and abdominal circumference was smaller than that of calorie restriction, muscle mass was maintained and the amount of fat accumulated in the liver was significantly improved compared to calorie restriction . In addition, it was confirmed that substances that raise blood sugar levels and worsen the metabolism of sugars and lipids are reduced, and it was found that there is another effect from weight loss (lower graph).
Muscle also has the function of storing sugar . "Women who are thin but have fatty liver may be due to a diet due to dietary restrictions. It is thought that they lose muscle and their ability to process sugar decreases," said Dr. Ito.
Dietary restrictions are effective for weight loss, but exercise is essential for improving metabolism 83 male obese people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are treated with aerobic exercise in an exercise intervention group and a dietary intervention group (calories 1680 kcal). (Limited to). In the dietary intervention group, the rate of decrease in body weight, body fat, and abdominal circumference was larger than that in the exercise intervention group, but the improvement in liver fat loss and hardness was clearly greater in the exercise intervention group. In addition, an inflammatory marker and a decrease in oxidative stress are also observed, and it is considered that there is an effect of improving fatty liver and metabolism independent of weight loss. (Data: JHEP Rep. 2021 Feb 10; 3 (3): 100253.)