Physical exercise, visceral fat and risk of diabetes

In a recent study, the relationship between the level of physical exercise that is carried out, the amount of visceral fat that is possessed and the risk of suffering from diabetes in overweight or obese boys and girls has been investigated.

The study has been carried out by a team that includes specialists from the Public University of Navarra (UPNA) and the University of Granada, both in Spain. And it has been published in the academic journal JAMA Network Open.

The team has verified that the addition of physical exercise to a 22-week program of healthy family lifestyles helps to substantially reduce body fat, and specifically visceral fat, in overweight or obese boys and girls .

In addition to this result, the research also shows that decreased visceral fat stores lead to a clinically relevant reduction in insulin resistance, the precursor to diabetes, in these children. The authors of the work highlight the importance of designing multicomponent intervention programs in which the family participates, in which dietary and psychological aspects are addressed and which include physical exercise to treat childhood obesity and prevent diabetes.

The members of the research team include specialists in physical exercise (Cristina Cadenas-Sánchez, María Medrano Echeverría, Jonatan Ruiz and Francisco Ortega, the first two from UPNA), physiology and nutrition (Maddi Osés, Lide Arenaza and Idoia Labayen, all of them from the UPNA, radiology (Fernando Idoate) and biomedical engineering (Aritz Sanz, Arantxa Villanueva and Rafael Cabeza, all of them from the UPNA).

The UPNA research team, in the Los Olivos building of the University. From left to right: Fernando Idoate, Aritz Sanz, Maddi Osés, Idoia Labayen, María Medrano, Arantxa Villanueva and Rafael Cabeza. (Photo: UPNA)

The danger of overweight and obesity in childhood

As the UPNA research team warns, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children has increased in recent decades, becoming a global pandemic. “Overweight or obese girls and boys accumulate excess fat in different organs and tissues that increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes mellitus, among other pathologies,” they warn.

“Visceral adipose tissue, in particular, is one of the fat deposits most detrimental to health”, explains Idoia Labayen. “Visceral fat accumulation is estimated to increase the risk of all-cause mortality by between 36% and 86%. In addition, the increase in visceral fat is a determining factor in the development of insulin resistance and other metabolic disorders. For this reason, it is a main therapeutic target in lifestyle interventions whose objective is the prevention of diabetes”, concludes the researcher. (Source: UPNA)