After months of eating clean and putting in hard work at the gym, there’s nothing more satisfying than noticing your clothes have a little bit more wiggle room. But losing stubborn belly fat is easier said than done—and tacking on more ab exercises to your workout isn’t a straightforward solution, either. A brand new scientific discovery implies it could come down to age and genetics.
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Researchers say aging may be the reason for your stubborn belly fat.
Belly fat is already hard to lose, but a new study published in the journal Science indicates that belly fat grows increasingly stubborn as we age, making it even more difficult to burn. As we get older, our bodies produce more adipose progenitor cells (APCs), which are responsible for the build-up of visceral adipose tissue mass, better known as visceral belly fat.
As Best Life previously explained, “Visceral fat is found below the muscle and surrounds our internal organs, including the liver and intestines. It contributes to a larger mid-section or apple-shaped body. Subcutaneous fat, on the other hand, is found just below the skin.”
“From middle age to early aging, adults often experience a notable increase in visceral adipose tissue mass. Visceral adiposity is believed to be an important risk factor for various metabolic disorders,” wrote the study authors.
And while a healthy diet and exercise can boost cardiovascular health and mood, it doesn’t stand a fighting chance against age-related weight gain. (Unless you’re targeting it with specific exercises.)
“People often lose muscle and gain body fat as they age—even when their body weight remains the same,” author Qiong Wang, an endocrinologist at the Arthur Riggs Diabetes and Metabolism Research Institute, told Science Alert.
This study implies, unfortunately, that the production of visceral belly fat is inevitable in older adults. Results show that “aging triggers the arrival of a new type of adult stem cell and enhances the body’s massive production of new fat cells, especially around the belly,” Wang further explained.
Their findings were conclusive in both human and mouse trials. In the latter, researchers removed white fat tissue stem cells from young male mice and injected them into older male mice. They observed no visceral fat production in the older mice, further proving that age is a critical factor in APC proliferation.
Researchers say immune dysregulation could also be to blame.
Our bodies naturally accumulate more immune cells in white fat tissue during the aging process. With the mouse model, scientists noticed a change in leukemia inhibitory factor receptors. These receptors play a crucial role in our biological processes, inflammatory response, stem cell self-renewal, and cancer progression, per a study in the journal Cancer Cell Microenviron.
As for this current paper, “Pharmacological and genetic manipulations indicated that leukemia inhibitory factor receptor signaling was indispensable for CP-A adipogenesis and visceral fat expansion,” noted the authors.
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However, the study authors caution that more research is needed.
Similar results stemmed from the human trial. However, due to its very limited scope of participants, only one of which was female, the team said advanced research is required to corroborate their findings. Keeping this in mind, Wang said the discovery could open new pathways for losing stubborn belly fat.
“Understanding the role of CP-As in metabolic disorders and how these cells emerge during aging could lead to new medical solutions for reducing belly fat and improving health and longevity,” said Wang.
Content shared from bestlifeonline.com.