Exercise Shrinks Tummy Fat Cells

Women have known for years that dieting alone does not do away with tummy fat. Now we know why. The Scientific American reports on new research conducted at Wake Forest University
School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The study, written up in the International Journal of Obesity, suggests that exercise literally makes abdominal fat cells smaller, while dieting alone does not. Sciam reports that the study included 45 obese middle-aged women who were
randomly assigned to one of three groups: one that cut calorie
intake alone; one that cut calories and walked at a moderate
pace three days per week; and a third that dieted and walked at
a more intense pace three days a week. After 20 weeks, all three groups showed improvements in
their weight and body fat percentage. But when the researchers
took samples of body fat from just below the skin’s surface,
the differences between exercisers and non-exercisers emerged. Women in both exercise groups showed about an 18 percent
reduction in the size of abdominal fat cells, whereas dieters
showed no change.