Dr. Peter Attia's Longevity DEXA Metrics | Visceral Fat | DEXA Body Scan (UK)
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- Опубликовано: 31 май 2024
- Welcome to the first of three deep-dive videos in our series looking at the DEXA scan metrics of key interest to Peter Attia. Peter is the author of the bestselling book Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity.
In this first video, we’ll be looking at visceral fat.
In Outlive, Attia likens a person’s normal, subcutaneous fat storage to a bathtub. Our changing level of body fat is like the water level in the bath, he says, rising and falling depending on how fast water flows in from the tap and how quickly it drains down the plughole. When we eat ‘at maintenance’ (calories in = calories out), our fat and weight stay the same, akin to the water level in the bath remaining constant because it fills and empties at the same rate.
But it’s when the taps are fully opened and the bathtub fills and spills over (that is, we eat way more calories than we burn) that problems arise. When our subcutaneous stores fill up, fat spills over into your muscle tissue, blood, liver and pancreas, and around your heart and other organs.
This excess, overspill fat is linked with what Attia calls The Four Horsemen - heart disease, cancer, dementia and diabetes. The fat that accumulates around your organs is visceral fat, which Attia describes as “anything but harmless”.
He says our risk from visceral fat is based on our own genetic capacity to store subcutaneous fat - some people have a bathtub, some a full-size jacuzzi, others a small bucket.
On the Bodyscan DEXA report, your visceral fat result is shown by the last number in the Adipose Tissue table.
Diagnostic thresholds have been applied, such that a measurement below 100 is considered normal. Between 100-160 is ‘increased risk’ and above 160 as ‘high risk.
Bodyscan data shows that visceral fat increases with age, and once you reach the 50th percentile (the average) for overall body fat, visceral fat will double between your 20s and your 50s.
Being ‘average’ might sound OK but in Outlive, Attia says, “It doesn’t take much visceral fat to cause problems.” Even a 40-year-old man with average total body fat “would be considered at exceptionally high risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, in the top 5 percent of risk for your age and sex.”
Now, Bodyscan data shows that visceral fat can remain very low regardless of age. At the lowest percentiles there is little change in the value. In contrast, the highest percentiles we see visceral fat climbing higher and higher - for men and women over 50, visceral fat scores are double those for the under-30s.
In all percentiles, women suffer from a faster rate of increase in visceral fat as they age, particularly after menopause, and at the highest percentiles, women end up with as much visceral fat or more than men.
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Perfectly clear explanation. Well done and thank you.
Thank you, we're glad it was helpful
Super helpful video! Well done, sir!
Excellent explanations. Clear and laconic.
I'm not sure "laconic" is how most people would describe me(!) but thank you very much. Pleased to offer some context and extra depth to Peter Attia's favoured DEXA metrics.
Strangely when I had my DEXA my overall fat was in the 80th percentile but my visceral fat the 30th.
Thoughts on ways to lose visceral fat if we are still in a normal BMI ?
Is it still best to do calorie deficit and once lost, then try to ensure continuing to maintain muscle?
"in a normal BMI" is a completely irrelevant metric in this case, if you want to loose fat... loose fat. Period
Can't find one near me.
Will the scan indicate where the visceral fat is located ie near which organs? Can it indicate fatty liver or pancreas?
No, the DEXA scan is not granular enough to measure or see fat around individual organs. DEXA measures a small sliver of internal fat in the android (belly) region and this measurement is consistent with detailed, granular fat measurements by CT scan. Utlimately, it doesn't really matter where you store visceral fat - the less the better. Knowing which organs you're storing fat around doesn't help you lose it.
What is the source for the VAT percentile chart?
Hi Jessa. The percentile charts for all the data points are Bodyscan data over the last nine years. While it is not a random sample of the UK population it is huge and broad.
If only it was that simple. Peter Attia really misses the boat on this
Why?
Go on?