Reduction of Visceral Fat Is Associated With Decrease in the Number of Metabolic Risk Factors in Japanese Men

Abstract

Visceral fat accumulation is associated with the development of metabolic disorders such as glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (1–8). However, the relationship between reduction of visceral fat and decrease in the number of metabolic risk factors has not been defined in the general population. Recently, we developed a new technique, the abdominal bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), to evaluate visceral fat area (VFA) (9). The aim of this study was to investigate whether reduction of visceral fat, estimated by the BIA, is associated with a decrease in the number of metabolic risk factors. The study group comprised 2,336 Japanese men (aged mean ± SD 48.0 ± 10.5 years, BMI 24.2 ± 2.9 kg/m2), who were employees of Amagasaki City Office, an urban area, and had undergone annual health check-ups in both 2004 and 2005. After the health check-up, the medical staff provided risk factor–oriented, rather than obesity-oriented, health promotion programs to select individuals with visceral fat accumulation and multiple risk factors, with the aim of encouraging a scientific understanding of the spectrum of metabolic syndrome from visceral fat accumulation to atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we used VFA estimated by the BIA, which was shown to correlate significantly with VFA determined by computed tomography (9). The measurement of VFA by BIA complied with the Guidelines of the Ethical Committees of …