Research
Hormonal
Adipose tissue distribution, specifically lower intra-abdominal adipose tissue (IAAT) and lower intrahepatic triglyceride content, distinguishes metabolically healthy obesity from metabolically unhealthy obesity, rather than total body fat percentage.
Focus on reducing visceral and liver fat rather than just total weight. This can be achieved through aerobic exercise and dietary changes that improve insulin sensitivity, even if total body fat percentage remains similar.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Taken together, these data show that excess adiposity per se is not responsible for the differences in metabolic health between people with MHO and MUO, but differences in adipose tissue distribution distinguish between MHO and MUO phenotypes.
Why this rating
Supported by multiple imaging and histological studies cited in the review.
Source
Metabolically healthy obesity: facts and fantasies
Gordon I. Smith et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2019
DOI 10.1172/jci129186
narrative_reviewCited 638×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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