520: Must-have tips to reduce bloat & heal your gut | Functional medicine doctor Mary Pardee, N.D.

Visceral Fat

Visceral fat, unlike subcutaneous fat, poses significant health risks due to its location around vital organs. Mary Pardee explains that visceral adipose tissue is more strongly correlated with cardiovascular risks such as high blood pressure and insulin resistance than overall body fat percentage 1. Dexa scans can help measure this type of fat, providing a clearer picture of one's health risks.

The last place you want it is around the organs. Having, like, fat around your hips, button thighs is not a big of an issue, as around that midsection where the organs are.

--- Mary Pardee

Jason Wachob adds that understanding the distribution of fat is crucial, as even lean individuals can have high levels of visceral fat, often referred to as "skinny fat" 1.

   

Muscle Mass

Muscle mass plays a crucial role in longevity and overall health, with a direct inverse relationship to mortality rates. Mary Pardee highlights that maintaining adequate muscle mass is essential, especially as we age, to reduce the risk of all-cause mortality 2. She uses the appendicular lean mass index to assess muscle mass relative to height, aiming for patients to be above the 70th percentile for their age and gender 3.

Muscle mass and mortality rates have a very inverse relationship, meaning that if muscle mass goes lower, mortality rates go higher.

--- Mary Pardee

Jason Wachob underscores the importance of focusing on lean body mass, not just body fat percentage, to ensure a healthy and active life as one ages 2.