Research
Hormonal
Visceral adipose tissue is more lipolytically active than subcutaneous fat, releasing fatty acids directly into the portal vein to the liver, thereby driving hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance more strongly than subcutaneous fat.
Waist circumference is a better health indicator than total weight. Reducing visceral fat through aerobic exercise and metabolic health improvements is crucial for preventing liver disease and type 2 diabetes, even if your total weight doesn't change drastically.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Visceral adipocytes are more lipolytic than subcutaneous adipocytes when incubated with different concentrations of norepinephrine, proportionally to the hepatic fat content... Moreover, VF releases FFA directly into the portal vein and they are, therefore, cleared mainly by the liver... Subjects with visceral fat have higher postprandial FFA and are at a higher risk of NAFLD and hepatic insulin resistance
Why this rating
The review cites multiple studies showing the correlation between visceral fat, portal FFA flux, and liver disease.
Source
The Subtle Balance between Lipolysis and Lipogenesis: A Critical Point in Metabolic Homeostasis
Chiara Saponaro et al. · Nutrients · 2015
DOI 10.3390/nu7115475
narrative_reviewCited 519×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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