Topic summary

Visceral fat

Visceral fat

Extracted from the Wikipedia article Adipose tissue.

Visceral fat

Visceral fat or abdominal fat (also known as organ fat or intra-abdominal fat) is located inside the abdominal cavity, packed between the organs (stomach, liver, intestines, kidneys, etc.). Visceral fat is different from subcutaneous fat underneath the skin, and intramuscular fat interspersed in skeletal muscles. Fat in the lower body, as in thighs and buttocks, is subcutaneous and is not consistently spaced tissue, whereas fat in the abdomen is mostly visceral and semi-fluid. Visceral fat is composed of several adipose depots, including mesenteric, epididymalwhite adipose tissue (EWAT), and perirenal depots. Visceral fat is often expressed in terms of its area in cm (VFA, visceral fat area).