So you’re looking in the mirror
this morning and thinking “All I
need is a little liposuction.” Your friends tell you “Once you
have had liposuction to your tummy, it never comes back there.” Sounds great, right?
A recent study may leave you
thinking more deeply about this.
Dr. Fabiana Braga Benatti at the
University of Sao Paulo looked at the effects of liposuction on body fat distribution and the effects of physical
activity. He and his colleagues studied 36 healthy, normal weight women in a
six month randomized controlled trial in Brazil. They all underwent small
volume abdominal liposuction. Then,
two months after the surgery, they were randomized to either the “trained”
group or “nontrained”. They looked
at body fat distribution by CT scan before intervention, at 2 months and at 6
months after surgery. The results
showed that despite all of them maintaining the loss of subcutaneous fat, the
non-trained group showed a significant 10% increase in visceral fat. Their conclusion was that although the
area of liposuction (subcutaneous fat) did not regrow, it did trigger a
”compensatory increase of visceral fat, which is effectively counteracted by
physical activity.”
So who cares about visceral fat
(the fat deep inside around your organs)?
I do and you should too!
Tracey McLaughlin and colleagues
at the Stanford University School of Medicine studied the relationship of
visceral adipose tissue versus subcutaneous adipose tissue in 115 healthy, yet
overweight, adults. CT scans were
once again used to measure fat mass.
They separated them into two groups based on the results of an insulin
suppression test which shows if someone is either insulin resistant or
sensitive to insulin. This is another way of saying whether someone can use
their insulin effectively to clear sugar from their body or they are unable to
do that.
The results showed that the group
that had insulin resistance had much greater visceral fat. So, although you
don’t really want excess fat anywhere,
visceral fat is bad. Visceral fat has been linked to increased risks for
cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, and the need for gall
bladder surgery. Losing this type of fat, which is very responsive to exercise,
plays a large role in lowering blood pressure and cholesterol.
One other tidbit: Steen Pedersen
at the Aarhus University in Denmark showed that normal estrogen levels shift the fat depot from intra-abdominal visceral
fat to subcutaneous fat. It can be
deduced then that the loss of estrogen
at the time of Peri-menopause and Menopause would cause a shift in the
wrong direction toward more visceral fat.
The good news from Dr. Benatti in
Brazil is that after you attain your gorgeous body from liposuction or liposculpture,
make sure to start a significant and consistent exercise regimen to avoid
the fat regain to the most unwanted area.
Along with Liposuction, I offer a nutritional
assessment, hormonal assessment and bio-identical hormone replacement, exercise and diet recommendations for the ultimate results.
For information on a Wellness Consultation or to inquire about surgical
procedures please contact: Terese
S. Harris, MD, 714-794-1818,
or e-mail at www.tereseharrismd.com.
