Fats!

May 16th, 2026| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

Spare tire in the midsection? Not good. And not just cosmetically. Might affect your brain. Even if your weight is acceptable.

So claimed a recent article in the prestigious journal Nature recently: “Sustained Visceral Fat Loss is Associated with Attenuated Brain Atrophy and Improved Cognitive Function in Late Midlife,” by researchers from Israel, Germany, and the USA.

In other words, it might not be how much fat we carry, but where we carry it.

A large, long-running, follow-up study tracked more than 500 adults for up to 16 years. People who lost and kept off visceral fat—the deep belly fat packed around internal organs—showed slower brain shrinkage and better scores on thinking and memory tests well into their early sixties.

But those who showed general weight loss, as measured by body mass index or BMI—these folks didn’t show the same brain-protective pattern as did those who lost visceral fat. was specifically the deep abdominal fat that mattered.

The subjects were 86% male (so it’s unclear whether this applies to women who store and metabolize fats differently, but anyway …), average age 52, average BMI 30, most in the overweight-to-obese range. Many had excess belly fat, abnormal cholesterol levels, or Type 2 diabetes.

Using MRI, researchers measured both abdominal fat and brain structure. At the follow-up visit, people with more visceral fat scored lower on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a widely used screening test for thinking and memory problems.

People who had lost visceral fat, meanwhile, showed meaningfully better brain preservation years later. A greater reduction in visceral fat during the 18-month program was associated with higher total brain volume and gray matter volume at follow-up.

Of course, this only shows an association, and is not necessarily proof that losing visceral fat caused the brain benefits.

To understand why visceral fat might harm the brain, the team examined a range of blood markers. Only two were found significant: fasting blood sugar and HbA1c, a measure of average blood sugar over several months.

This makes sense: visceral fat is metabolically active tissue that pumps out substances promoting insulin resistance, a condition in which the body’s cells don’t respond properly to the hormone that regulates blood sugar. So, over time, chronically elevated blood sugar can damage blood vessels throughout the body, including in the brain. That’s probably the explanation of these findings.

But God, he loves fat.

“From the sacrifice of the peace offerings he shall present an offering by fire to Yahweh,
the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails,
and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, which is on the loins,
and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys.
Then Aaron’s sons shall offer it up in smoke on the altar on the burnt offering,
which is on the wood that is on the fire;
it is an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to Yahweh.”
Leviticus 3:3–5

God had first dibs on it.

“The priest shall offer them up in smoke on the altar as food,
an offering by fire for a soothing aroma; all fat is Yahweh’s.”
Leviticus 3:16

Yes, but even more pleasing to God is the “soothing aroma” of a life lived unto him.

Paul thanks a supporting church in Philippi for …

… what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.
Philippians 4:18

That’s the sacrifice that pleases God.

Live an aromatous life (but watch the fat anyway)!

SOURCE: Study Finds; Nature