Research
Hormonal
Visceral obesity potentiates local glucocorticoid action through the enzyme 11β-HSD1, which converts inactive cortisone to active cortisol, thereby increasing tissue sensitivity to glucocorticoids.
Visceral fat contains enzymes that amplify cortisol's effects locally. Reducing visceral fat can lower this amplification, improving metabolic health.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
This tissue-specific amplification of the cortisol action, mediated by 11β-HSD1, is considered an important factor that implicates tissue sensitivity to glucocorticoids to the pathophysiology of the HPA axis hyperactivation, especially under conditions that potentiate 11β-HSD1 activity, such as visceral obesity.
Why this rating
Review paper describing molecular mechanisms.
Source
Stress, Visceral Obesity, and Metabolic Complications
Ioannis Kyrou et al. · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2006
DOI 10.1196/annals.1367.008
narrative_reviewCited 379×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Chronic stress contributes to the accumulation of visceral fat tissue primarily through the hyperactivation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and subsequent glucocorticoid exposure.Moderate
- Obesity acts as a chronic stressful state that can cause HPA axis dysfunction, creating a bidirectional relationship with stress.Moderate
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