What Is Visceral Fat?
Visceral fat is a specialised form of body fat stored deep in the abdominal cavity, enveloping the stomach, liver, intestines and other organs. While subcutaneous fat lies just beneath the skin, visceral fat remains hidden from view—yet it typically accounts for around 10–15% of your total body fat. Often dubbed “active fat,” visceral adipose tissue secretes bioactive molecules that influence metabolism, inflammation and hormone function.
Why Visceral Fat Is a Threat to Your Health
Excess visceral fat is metabolically harmful. In contrast to subcutaneous fat, it produces a host of inflammatory cytokines and hormones that can influence your health in the following ways:
- It drives chronic inflammation, contributing to tissue damage and immune dysfunction.
- It impairs insulin sensitivity, elevating blood sugar levels and increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes.
- Raise cardiovascular risk, promoting high blood pressure, atherosclerosis and heart attack.
- Increase stroke likelihood, particularly at younger ages.
- Elevate cancer risk, notably colorectal and breast cancers.
- Contribute to dementia, with higher visceral fat linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
- Trigger other conditions, such as fatty liver disease, asthma, sleep apnoea and metabolic syndrome.
Causes of Visceral Fat Accumulation
Several factors contribute to the build-up of visceral fat:
- Unbalanced diet: Excess calories—especially from refined sugars, trans fats and ultra-processed foods—foster fat storage.
- Physical inactivity: A sedentary lifestyle reduces calorie expenditure and promotes central fat deposition.
- Chronic stress: Persistently high cortisol levels encourage visceral fat storage around the organs.
- Genetics & hormones: Ageing, genetic predisposition and hormonal shifts (e.g. menopause) can alter fat distribution.
- Poor sleep: Insufficient or disrupted sleep dysregulates appetite hormones, thereby increasing the risk of visceral fat accumulation.
- Alcohol & smoking: Both can exacerbate abdominal fat accumulation.
How Visceral Fat Impacts Your Body
- Chronic Inflammation: Visceral fat secretes pro-inflammatory cytokines that create a low-grade, systemic inflammatory state—disrupting organ function and promoting insulin resistance.
- Insulin Resistance & Type 2 Diabetes: Proteins like retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) from visceral fat impair insulin signalling, leading to elevated blood glucose levels and an increased risk of diabetes.
- Cardiovascular Strain: Inflammatory mediators constrict blood vessels and elevate blood pressure, thereby increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke, and high cholesterol.
- Organ Dysfunction: Physical pressure from fat deposits can impair the function of the liver, pancreas, and intestines, contributing to fatty liver disease and other metabolic disorders.
- Cancer & Cognitive Decline: A pro-inflammatory, hormone-imbalanced environment fosters tumour growth. It is linked to higher rates of colorectal and breast cancers, as well as dementia.
Treatments and Solutions
At Skin Renewal, every journey is guided by our experienced medical team, ensuring safe, evidence-based treatments tailored to your unique physiology. Our doctor-led approach combines cutting-edge technologies—such as cryolipolysis, radiofrequency, and carboxytherapy—with personalised nutritional and lifestyle plans, creating a powerful multiplier effect that amplifies results. By layering complementary modalities under expert supervision, we don’t just target isolated fat pockets—we transform your metabolic health and sculpt lasting, holistic change.
- Renewal Institute Diet (RID) Programme – A doctor-led, low-glycaemic load eating plan with an HCG daily injection, specifically designed to target and reduce excess weight through balanced, whole-food nutrition.
- Shape Up – Combines the RID nutrition framework with GLP-1 receptor agonist injections to accelerate visceral fat loss and improve metabolic health.
- Body Composition Analysis & Medical Consultations – In-clinic body composition scanning and personalised medical oversight to assess risk, set targets and monitor your progress.
- Reset Renewal – Expert guidance on supplements to support fat metabolism and optimise gut-organ health.
Here are the key in-clinic treatments Skin Renewal offers to help reduce visceral (and stubborn subcutaneous) fat:
- Cooltech Cryolipolysis: Non-invasive fat-freezing that targets and destroys fat cells in the abdomen, helping sculpt away deep-seated fat deposits.
- Radiofrequency (RF) Body Contouring – Delivers controlled RF energy to heat and tighten tissue, boost collagen and assist in fat reduction.
- Mesotherapy (Injection Lipolysis) – Series of micro-injections containing fat-dissolving compounds to reduce small pockets of visceral-adjacent fat locally.
- Carboxytherapy: Stimulates local blood flow and oxygen delivery, jump-starting fat cell metabolism to accelerate lipolysis and drainage.
How Weight Loss Impacts Your Health
Losing just 10% of your body weight can be a transformative experience. You’ll notice steadier energy levels, improved blood sugar control and reduced strain on your heart and joints. Clinically, this modest reduction often translates into lower blood pressure, improved cholesterol profiles, and a significant drop in diabetes risk—benefits that ripple through every aspect of your well-being. Imagine breathing more easily, moving with greater comfort and feeling lighter in both body and mind.
