Research
Hormonal
Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volume is independently associated with cardiovascular events and subclinical atherosclerosis, mediated by increased lipolytic activity, low-grade inflammation, and oxidative stress.
Abdominal fat is metabolically dangerous. It releases fatty acids and inflammatory signals that damage blood vessels and increase heart disease risk, even if you don't look obese elsewhere.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Increased abdominal visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is associated with a clustering of metabolic risk factors as well as insulin resistance... VAT was an independent risk factor for incident coronary artery disease.
Why this rating
Supported by longitudinal studies (Framingham, Japanese-American) and mechanistic data.
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
narrative_reviewCited 214×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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