Research

Energy balance

Long-term weight loss via lifestyle interventions reduces cervical subcutaneous adipose tissue (cervical-SAT) significantly, whereas chin subcutaneous adipose tissue (chin-SAT) shows a significant initial reduction but rebounds to baseline levels after 18 months.

If you are losing weight, expect your neck fat to decrease more sustainably than chin fat. While you may see an initial reduction in chin fat, it is likely to return as you maintain your weight long-term, whereas neck fat reduction is more persistent. This does not mean weight loss is ineffective, but rather that fat distribution changes are depot-specific.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
After 18-months only cervical-SAT remained decreased compared to baseline (−5%, p < 0.001)... In long-term, chin-SAT displays a larger rebound compared with cervical-SAT.
Gal Tsaban et al. · Nutrients · 2021

Why this rating

Randomized Controlled Trial with MRI quantification, though adherence was high (86%), the primary outcome was weight, not fat distribution.

Source

The Effect of Weight-Loss Interventions on Cervical and Chin Subcutaneous Fat Depots; the CENTRAL Randomized Controlled Trial

Gal Tsaban et al. · Nutrients · 2021

DOI 10.3390/nu13113827

rct · n=278Cited 7×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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