Inner belly fat - Visceral fat

Finally, there is the much scolded inner abdominal fat in the abdominal cavity.

It lies around and between the organs of the abdomen. That is why it is also called visceral fat, because "viscera" means "intestines".

This internal abdominal fat is meant when talking about dangerous abdominal fat.

It is the main theme of this website: what it does in the body and how to shrink it again.

Roughly speaking, the inner abdominal fat is a short-term memory. It is intended that the body can compensate for shorter phases without sufficient food supply.

Until a few decades ago, there were also repeated food shortages in the industrialized countries. It could save lives if one had food reserves in the form of fat.

Unlike subcutaneous fat, which accumulates all over the body, internal abdominal fat is available very quickly when food becomes scarce. The inner abdominal fat thus represents an intermediate stage in the energy-supply.

Immediate energy supply is provided by the so called ATP molecules. Their energy is exhausted after a few seconds.

Then the ATP molecules are recharged with glycogen and some muscle fat. Glycogen is the storage form of starch. These are therefore carbohydrates that can be stored in the body. Glycogen stores are found in the liver and muscles. The total glycogen supply corresponds to about 1600 kilo-calories, which is enough for about 90 minutes of intensive physical exertion.

The further energy supply of the body occurs either through newly eaten food or by reducing the fat deposits. It is first eaten by the internal abdominal fat if no fresh food is available.

The inner abdominal fat releases fats into the blood. The metabolism partially converts the fat into sugar so that the blood sugar level can be maintained. Sometimes the fat is transferred directly to the muscles to ensure the energy supply.

Only secondarily does the body use the subcutaneous fatty tissue when it has energy requirements.

In practice, however, these metabolic processes do not take place one after the other, but generally simultaneously. The description of the sequence therefore serves more to explain the priority than the chronological sequence.

Both abdominal fat and subcutaneous fat tissue are constantly reduced and built up. If there is a lack of food, however, degradation predominates, first in abdominal fat and later in subcutaneous fat. When there is a surplus of food it is exactly the same, but then the build-up prevails. First the abdominal fat is built up and then the subcutaneous fat.

However, how much abdominal fat there is in relation to subcutaneous fat depends on several factors. These factors have only been partially clarified to date.

So we only know to a limited extent why one person has above all inner abdominal fat and another person above all subcutaneous fat.