Visceral fat, the fat deep in the belly surrounding vital
organs, can be dangerous to overall health. Kristen Hairston,
from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina, and colleagues urge that the way to reduce visceral
fat is simple: Eat more soluble fiber from vegetables, fruit and
beans, and engage in moderate activity. The team completed a
longitudinal study involving 1,114 men and women that examined
whether lifestyle factors, such as diet and exercise frequency,
were associated with a five-year change in abdominal fat, with
CT scans (to measure fat) administered at the study’s start and
conclusion. The researchers found that for every 10-gram
increase in soluble fiber eaten per day, visceral fat was
reduced by 3.7 percent over five years. Factoring that with the
observation that increased moderate activity led to a 7.4
percent decrease in the rate of visceral fat accumulation over
the same time period, they reported that soluble fiber intake
and increased physical activity “wer