Welcome to the MedLibrary.org Wikipedia Supplement on Visceral fat -- Please Click to Return to Front Page

Visceral fat, also known as organ fat or intra-abdominal fat, is located inside the peritoneal cavity, packed in between internal organs, as opposed to subcutaneous fat which is found underneath the skin and intramuscular fat which is found interspersed in skeletal muscle. An excess of visceral fat leads to the "pot belly" or "beer belly" effect, in which the abdomen protrudes excessively. This body type is also known as "apple" shaped, as opposed to "pear" shape, in which fat is deposited on the hips and buttocks. Visceral fat is composed of several adipose depots including mesenteric, epididymal white adipose tissue (EWAT) and perirenal depots. Visceral fat accumulation is associated with insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and coronary artery disease.

See also

• Steatosis (Also called fatty change, fatty degeneration or adipose degeneration).
• Subcutaneous fat
• Central obesity

This anatomy article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 4 November 2008, at 01:35.

Wikipedia Authorship and Review

Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.

Wikipedia Usage Guidelines

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Visceral fat".

The URL for this specific entry is:

• http://medlibrary.org/medwiki/Visceral_fat

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.