Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Nov 1;53(11):2309-2317.
doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002712.

Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Body Fatness: Associations with Total Body Fat, Visceral Fat, and Liver Fat

Esther Winters-VAN Eekelen  1 , Jeroen H P M VAN DER Velde, Sebastiaan C Boone  1 , Kate Westgate  2 , Søren Brage  2 , Hildo J Lamb  3 , Frits R Rosendaal  1 , Renée DE Mutsert  1
Affiliations

Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Body Fatness: Associations with Total Body Fat, Visceral Fat, and Liver Fat

Esther Winters-VAN Eekelen et al. Med Sci Sports Exerc. .

Abstract

Purpose: It remains unclear to what extent habitual physical activity and sedentary time (ST) are associated with visceral fat and liver fat. We studied the substitution of ST with time spent physically active and total body fat (TBF), visceral adipose tissue (VAT), and hepatic triglyceride content (HTGC) in middle-age men and women.

Design: In this cross-sectional analysis of the Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity study, physical activity was assessed in 228 participants using a combined accelerometer and heart rate monitor. TBF was assessed by the Tanita bioelectrical impedance, VAT by magnetic resonance imaging, and HTGC by proton-MR spectroscopy. Behavioral intensity distribution was categorized as ST, time spent in light physical activity (LPA), and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). To estimate the effect of replacing 30 min·d-1 of ST with 30 min·d-1 LPA or MVPA, we performed isotemporal substitution analyses, adjusted for sex, age, ethnicity, education, the Dutch Healthy Diet index, and smoking.

Results: Included participants (41% men) had a mean ± SD age of 56 ± 6 yr and spent 88 ± 56 min in MVPA and 9.0 ± 2.1 h of ST. Replacing 30 min·d-1 of ST with 30 min of MVPA was associated with 1.3% less TBF (95% confidence interval = -2.0 to -0.7), 7.8 cm2 less VAT (-11.6 to -4.0), and 0.89 times HTGC (0.82-0.97). Replacement with LPA was not associated with TBF (-0.03%; -0.5 to 0.4), VAT (-1.7 cm2; -4.4 to 0.9), or HTGC (0.98 times; 0.92-1.04).

Conclusions: Reallocation of time spent sedentary with time spent in MVPA, but not LPA, was associated with less TBF, visceral fat, and liver fat. These findings contribute to the development of more specified guidelines on ST and physical activity.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03410316.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The results of the present study do not constitute endorsement by ACSM. The results of this study are presented clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate data manipulation.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of habitual activity intensities during awake time in participants with a physical activity and total body fat measurement in the Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity study (N=228)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Stevens GA, Singh GM, Lu Y, Danaei G, Lin JK, Finucane MM, Bahalim AN, McIntire RK, Gutierrez HR, Cowan M. National, regional, and global trends in adult overweight and obesity prevalences. Popul Health Metr. 2012;10(1):22. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Despres JP, Lemieux I. Abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome. Nature. 2006;444(7121):881–7. - PubMed
    1. Lim S, Meigs JB. Links between ectopic fat and vascular disease in humans. Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology. 2014:ATVBAHA. 114.303035 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gast KB, den Heijer M, Smit JWA, Widya RL, Lamb HJ, de Roos A, Jukema JW, Rosendaal FR, de Mutsert R. Individual contributions of visceral fat and total body fat to subclinical atherosclerosis: The NEO study. Atherosclerosis. 2015;241(2):547–54. - PubMed
    1. Kaess BM, Pedley A, Massaro JM, Murabito J, Hoffmann U, Fox CS. The ratio of visceral to subcutaneous fat, a metric of body fat distribution, is a unique correlate of cardiometabolic risk. Diabetologia. 2012;55(10):2622–30. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Associated data