Long-time exercisers have healthier belly fat than new exercisers, in new study.
Exercise benefits people even when they gain extra weight. Researchers from the University of Michigan wanted to evaluate whether exercise impacts fat tissue’s structure and function. In a study of 32 subjects with obesity, they examined the differences in belly fat tissue among a group of 16 who had reported exercising at least four times a week for at least 2 to 11 years and among a group of 16 people who never exercised regularly, but who matched the first group in body fat mass, weight and gender. The exercisers had an improved ability to store fat tissue just under the skin.
“What it means is that if or when people [who have a history of exercise] experience weight gain, this excess fat will be stored more ‘healthfully’ in this area under the skin [subcutaneous fat], rather than in the fat tissue around their organs [visceral fat] or an accumulation of fat in organs themselves, like the liver or heart,” says principal scientist Jeffrey Horowitz, PhD, professor of movement science at the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology.
The research is published in Nature Metabolism (2024; doi: 10.1038/s42255-024-01103-x).
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.
