HEALTHIER BELLY FAT SEEN IN EXERCISERS

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HEALTHIER BELLY FAT SEEN IN EXERCISERS





People with obesity who are long-time exercisers have healthier belly fat tissue and can store fat there more effectively than nonexercisers with obesity, according to a new study from a team of researchers at the University of Michigan.

The research team also grew fat tissue in the lab from cells collected from exercisers and nonexercisers. Cells from the exercisers developed into tissue that stored fat more effectively.

"Our findings indicate that, in addition to being a means to expend calories, exercising regularly for several months to years seems to modify your fat tissue in ways that allow you to store your body fat more healthfully if or when you do experience some weight gain—as nearly everyone does as we get older," said principal investigator Jeffrey Horowitz, professor of movement science at the U-M School of Kinesiology.

Researchers wanted to see the effects of years of regular exercise on fat tissue, but it takes a lot of work to design a study to track this long-term. Instead, they compared two groups of adults with obesity: 16 people who reported exercising at least four times a week for at least two years—the average was 11 years; and 16 people who had never exercised regularly but matched in other factors like body fat mass, weight, and sex. The team took samples of belly fat tissue just under the skin from both groups.

They found that the exerciser's fat tissue had distinct structural and biological characteristics that increased its capacity to store fat. The nonexercisers did not have those characteristics. Specifically, the exercisers had more blood vessels, mitochondria, and beneficial proteins, less of a type of collagen that can interfere with metabolism, and fewer cells that cause inflammation.

This matters because the healthiest place to store fat is the subcutaneous adipose tissue under the skin where the samples were taken. Increasing the capacity to store fat here through exercise reduces the need to store fat in unhealthy places, like the fat tissue around the organs or in the organs themselves.

"Compared with our previous study in which we examined the effects of three months of training on fat tissue, we generally see these differences are more robust in people who exercise regularly for years versus those who don't exercise," Horowitz said.

It's important to note that increasing the capacity to store fat does not equate to gaining fat, which requires overeating.

"What it means is that, if or when people experience weight gain, this excess fat will be stored more 'healthfully' in this area under the skin, rather than in the fat tissue around their organs (visceral fat) or in an accumulation of fat in organs themselves, like the liver or heart."

One disease caused by unhealthy fat accumulation that's getting more attention in the U.S. and elsewhere is nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, which occurs most often in people who are overweight or obese. Excess fat builds up in the liver and can cause diseases like cirrhosis (seen most often with alcoholism) or cancer.

Horowitz said it's essential to perform long-term studies that track people as they start and maintain an exercise program for several years to see how their fat tissue changes—even if they don't change the amount of fat tissue they have. It's also important to know if a type or intensity of exercise achieves a better response in modifying fat tissue.

In follow-up studies, the team will also examine whether fat tissue grown from exercisers and nonexercisers functions differently and whether other health-related differences may affect the tissue's health and the person the cells came from.



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