Study: Poor Fitness Leads to Accumulation of Abdominal Fat

A new study published in the latest issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, reveals that men with good fitness levels exhibit better metabolic profiles and have less abdominal fat as compared to unfit individuals that weigh the same.

The work was conducted by Benoit J. Arsenault and Jean-Pierre Després academics in the Department of Anatomy and Physiology at the Hôpital Laval Research Centre in Québec, Canada.

The research was prompted by previous studies that have suggested that individuals who are overweight and even obese, but possess satisfactory levels of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease.

The objective of the study was to assess if there was a correlation between low fitness levels and visceral adipose tissue (abdominal fat). The team also wanted to determine if individuals with weak endurance levels exhibited poor metabolic profiles.

For this endeavor, the research team recruited 169 men with no prior history of diabetes and determined their body mass index (BMI). The average age of study participants was 37.1 years with a calculated BMI of 25.9. The scientists then measured adipose tissue (AT) buildup, CRF, and plasma insulin levels as well as cholesterol profiles.

When they team analyzed the data, they found that the bottom third of subjects with the lowest cardiorespiratory endurance, had a significantly higher level of abdominal fat as compared to men that were in the upper third of the population with the highest levels of fitness.

With regard to cholesterol profiles, individuals that had poor fitness, exhibited higher levels of fatty acids (triglyceride average of 161 ± 73 mg/dL) and bad cholesterol (LDL-Apo-B average of 106 ± 23 mg/dL) as compared to men with high cardiopulmonary endurance (fatty acid average of 99 ±45 and LDL-Apo-B average of 89 ± 24 mg/dL).