Excess fat in the body has always been the culprit for a wide variety of metabolic conditions, including type 2 diabetes. Yet, recent studies have clearly shown that the amount of body fat is not to be blamed alone for that.
A recent study that was conducted by a team of researchers in the Uppsala University of Sweden has revealed that it is all about where the accumulation of the fat occurs – not the amount of fat, which determines the risk factor for diabetes, particularly for women.
For instance, accumulation of fat around the organs and the intestines, which is called visceral fat, is an extremely crucial factor, which significantly raises type 2 diabetes risk more so for the females.
The team, which was co-headed by Prof. Torgisson, Ph.D., studied a database comprising of 325,153 individuals. The samples were provided by UK Biobank.
Visceral fat cannot be seen. Hence, it is quite difficult to ascertain the amount of visceral fat that the body ha stored. To detect visceral fat, expensive tests like CT and MRI scans or dual-energy X-Ray Absorptiometry.
The researchers have come up with a much easier, much cheaper mechanism of estimating visceral fat. This has helped to carry out further analyses and ascertain the way this variety of fat affects the health and heighten risk factors.
After estimating the amount of visceral fat, the researchers carried out a genome-wide association analysis. It allowed them to conclude that visceral fat is the principal risk factor for heart attack, angina, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia and of course, type-2 diabetes.
Explaining their findings, Prof. Åsa Johansson, an associate professor at Uppsala University told that chances of type-2 diabetes increases 7 times in women, by just adding 1 Kg. visceral fat. However, that same quantity of fat in case of men will increase the probability by just 2 times.
