Visceral Fat: Your Hidden Enemy & Cancer’s Secret Friend (Part I)
Did you know that not all fat is created equal? Recent studies have revealed a correlation between excess belly fat and chronic diseases, including cancer. Not only does excess visceral fat increase cancer risk, but it can also impact the severity of the disease.
Cancer is a devastating diagnosis that leaves everyone affected by it, both directly and indirectly, feeling powerless. Powerless, in part, because there’s still so much that we don’t know about cancer, how it develops, and how to treat it effectively.
Fortunately, scientists and medical professionals are working around the clock researching its origins, effective treatments and ways that we, as a population, can mitigate our risks. In fact, studies recently revealed a disturbing link between body fat and cancer risk.
It appears that carrying an excess amount of visceral (belly) fat can increase cancer risk—particularly colon cancer, breast cancer (in women), and prostate cancer (in men).
In this two-part post, we’ll deep dive into how visceral fat affects cancer risk, the differences in body composition and cancer risk between men and women, and strategies to reduce your visceral fat level.
How visceral fat may increase cancer risk
The link between visceral fat and cancer is a relatively recent discovery, but, even so, there is a significant amount of evidence to support it.
You may not know what visceral fat is, but you’ve seen it in “belly pooches” and “beer guts.” Sometimes called android fat, it’s the fat that fills up the spaces between your organs in the abdominal cavity.
Unlike gynoid fat, which typically accumulates on the hips or thighs, visceral fat is associated with an increased risk of several chronic illnesses, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
At this time, researchers have identified three ways visceral fat may contribute to increased cancer risk:
Inflammation: Short-term inflammation is a healthy immune response to injury or a perceived threat (like disease-causing bacteria). However, chronic (long-term) inflammation causes a cascade of reactions that may ultimately result in your body attacking its own healthy cells. It’s been implicated in many diseases, and researchers have found that high levels of inflammatory markers are a warning sign for insulin resistance and cancer cell formation.
Insulin resistance: Insulin is the hormone that reduces blood sugar levels after a meal. It does this by storing any excess sugar in the blood as fat. For this reason, high insulin levels are often seen in people who are overweight or obese. Over time, the body can start to “ignore” insulin—so even more insulin is secreted to achieve the same effect. Some researchers theorize that insulin resistance causes obesity. And, at least in the case of prostate cancer, high insulin levels, insulin resistance, and obesity appear to increase risk.
Release of harmful proteins from fat cells: One study found that visceral fat, which pads the organs, produces higher levels of a protein called fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) than subcutaneous fat, which is just beneath the skin. According to this study, FGF-2 may contribute to cancer growth by causing higher rates of cancer cell formation.
While these three things may seem disconnected, they’re highly interwoven. When one is present, they’re likely all present to some degree. For example, people who are insulin resistant are likely dealing with inflammation, too—and inflammation and insulin resistance are often seen with excess body fat and visceral fat, which may produce excess FGF-2.
In addition to increasing cancer risk, visceral fat may contribute to worse outcomes in people who already have cancer. One study of women with endometrial cancer found that those with the highest visceral fat levels had the poorest survival rates. This study also found that women with high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes—which often go hand in hand with inflammation and insulin resistance—were the individuals with the highest visceral fat levels.
Reducing visceral fat
It’s important to manage your visceral fat level and keep it in a safe range—not only to decrease your cancer risk but also for your general wellness. And while reducing your visceral fat level is no guarantee that you’ll stay cancer-free, it can greatly improve your health.
Even if you’re at a “healthy” weight according to your BMI, you may still benefit from weight optimization—or improving your body composition to a more favorable one with a smaller percentage of abdominal fat and an increased proportion of muscle mass.
The three main lifestyle factors that may help you decrease your visceral fat levels are:
Diet: A healthy, anti-inflammatory diet should be rich in fiber and antioxidants from fruits and vegetables, along with protein and healthy fats from fish, nuts, seeds, and olive oil. Sugary food and drinks and highly processed foods can contribute to fat gain because they are high in fat and calories, as well as sugar and additives that increase food cravings and affect your hunger hormones. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limiting them as much as possible.
Exercise: A combination of cardio exercise (walking, jogging, biking, swimming, dancing) and strength training (resistance training or weight lifting) is ideal. Cardio can help burn fat and calories, while strength training can increase your lean muscle mass and help you burn more calories at rest. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate activity each week, along with twice-weekly resistance training.
Stress Reduction: When your stress levels are chronically elevated, your body produces high levels of the hormone cortisol—which signals your body to store more abdominal fat. To put an end to this process, try to reduce your stress through self-care rituals like yoga or getting a massage, improving your diet and exercise routine, and even therapy or counseling if you feel you may need it.
However, your first step in this journey is to learn about your unique body composition rather than relying on archaic methods like a scale or BMI calculator. Instead, look to scientifically backed methods of measurement like the DEXA body scan, Bod Pod and SECA. All three methods assess your body fat percentage and lean mass, not just your weight. The DEXA scan can also offer a segmented body fat assessment, so you’ll know exactly where your fat is being carried. This can be especially useful if you’re interested in learning about your visceral fat.
Although there’s still a lot we don’t know about cancer, research suggests that excess visceral fat can increase your cancer risk. It may even lead to worse outcomes in people who already have cancer. In the next post, in this two-part series, we’ll review how visceral fat affects cancer risk differently in men and women.
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