Battling the bulge is a constant struggle for more than 100 million adults in the United States alone, but is all body fat the same? Not according to a new study, that says those who exercise, even if they are obese, tend to develop healthier fat.
The study, carried out by the University of Michigan and published by Nature Metabolism , explains that two people weighing the same and consuming an identical number of calories could reach significantly different health outcomes if one exercises regularly, and the other abstains. But how so? It appears that those who have been active for the long-term store their fat more efficiently than non-exercisers. In other words, fat is stored more predominantly under the skin than in more dangerous areas such as around are organs.
How was the study carried out?
It’s a tricky process to investigate the effects of long-term exercise on human fat tissues, but scientists were able to compare exercisers and non-exercisers by taking samples for observation.
The samples were split into two groups:
Group 1: Those who reported exercising at least 4 times per week for at least 2 years.
Group 2: Those who have never exercises regularly but were the same as Group 1 in terms of body fat mass, weight, and sex.
What were the results?
The results showed that the regular, long-term exercisers had a completely different fat tissue construction with more blood vessels, mitochondria, and healthy proteins. On the flip side, these individuals also generated less of a type of collagen that can disrupt metabolism, and fewer inflammation causing cells. “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 allows 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.
This is a timely discovery, since diseases caused by unhealthy fat accumulation are rising with the constantly increasing levels of western world obesity. Fatty liver disease and problems caused by visceral fat, which surrounds the liver, intestines, stomach, and other organs could be reduced if the body shuttles fatty tissue under the skin (subcutaneous). “… we generally see these differences are more robust in people who exercise regularly for years versus those who don’t exercise,” concluded Horowitz.
So, it doesn’t matter where you are at with your battle against the bulge. Exercising regularly could still be a life saver.