Hormonal
Ectopic fat accumulation in visceral, hepatic, and pericardial depots acts as an active endocrine organ that promotes cardiovascular disease through insulin resistance, systemic inflammation, and oxidative stress, independent of overall body mass index.
Your weight on the scale is less important than where your fat is stored. Even if you are lean, excess fat around your organs (liver, heart, abdomen) can drive heart disease risk through inflammation and insulin resistance. Focus on metabolic health markers rather than just BMI.
Ectopic fat may act as an active endocrine and paracrine organ that releases various bioactive mediators that influence insulin resistance, glucose and lipid metabolism, coagulation, and inflammation, which all contribute to cardiovascular risk.
Why this rating
Based on multiple human observational studies (Framingham, Japanese-American cohort) and mechanistic data, though causality in specific depots is still being elucidated.
Source
Links Between Ectopic Fat and Vascular Disease in Humans
Soo Lim et al. · Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology · 2014
DOI 10.1161/atvbaha.114.303035
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