Liposuction could increase deep belly fat

Liposuction may cause deeper, more dangerous fat in the abdomen, a new study says.

Brazilian researchers said that just a few months after the fat-sucking procedure, there could be an increase in visceral fat in the midsection.

So-called visceral fat increases the risk of type-2 diabetes and heart disease and is thus considered more dangerous than fat nearer to the surface of the skin.

Reuters reported that the study looked at 36 women who had undergone liposuction and were sedentary before the procedure.

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Half the women were told to exercise post-liposuction, while the others remained sedentary.

Bliss Tree reported that those who did not exercise showed a 10 percent increase in visceral fat.

It is still unclear why visceral fat increases so dramatically in post-liposuction patients.

"We believe it may be because this particular fat depot is more metabolically active than the other fat depots," said study author Fabiana Benatti, of the University of Sao Paulo, reported Reuters.

A competing reason is that the procedure destroys the make-up of fat cells below the skin so that new fat flows into the visceral cells.

The only solution to preventing deep fat from accumulating: exercise.

The research is found in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.