#visceral-fat

#visceral-fat

Being overweight has long been linked to heart conditions and type 2 diabetes, but even people who look thinner could be at risk, researchers suggest. A new study led by researchers at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, explains there is such a thing as being skinny-fat - someone who appears to be healthy and slim but in fact has hidden fat deep inside their organs.

When injuries or infections occur, the immune system mounts a protective response by releasing cells and proteins to affected tissues. This complex cascade is called inflammation. But as we age, inflammation gradually increases and becomes persistent instead of being a state that occurs only when things go wrong. Among the cells that that help to regulate this inflammageing are a variety of macrophages - white blood cells that hoover up pathogens and cellular debris - that reside in fat tissue.