When people think about fat, they tend to think in broad strokes—weight, body size, maybe the number on the scale, but weight alone tells us very little. Two people with identical weights can have radically different health profiles depending on how much muscle they carry, how much fat they store, and where they store it.  This matters, when changes in body composition can silently increase the risk of metabolic dysfunction, cancer, and chronic disease.

 Not all fat is the same. And not all of it is visible. 

 Visceral fat (VAT)—the kind that wraps around your internal organs, cannot be estimated using body weight, doesn’t show up in the mirror, and doesn’t correlate well with BMI.  Even lean, active individuals can carry high levels of it, and that’s a problem—because visceral fat is not just inert storage. It’s metabolically active in ways that accelerate aging and disease.  Unlike subcutaneous fat (which sits just under the skin), visceral fat is metabolically active in all the wrong ways. It drives chronic low-grade inflammation, contributes to insulin resistance, and alters hormone signaling.

 It’s worth noting that visceral fat tends to increase with age, particularly during hormonal transitions like menopause or andropause, and it often does so without major changes in weight.

Early detection matters, because:

• Most conditions associated with visceral fat develop slowly and silently over time.
• The earlier you intervene, the more reversible the damage.
• Targeted strategies—such as aerobic exercise, nutritional interventions, or hormonal support—can reduce VAT more effectively when tracked over time.

 While visceral fat can be measured with CT or MRI—both considered gold-standard imaging techniques—these approaches are often impractical for routine use due to high cost, limited accessibility, and, in the case of CT, increased radiation exposure. DEXA (Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry) offers a highly practical alternative: low-radiation, fast, and accessible. It provides a detailed, region-specific assessment of body composition and directly quantifies visceral fat volume. 

 It’s important to keep in mind that VAT isn’t about aesthetics. Visceral fat is a health issue, not a cosmetic one.  You can’t feel visceral fat,  you can’t see it, but you can measure it—and that single step turns a silent threat into something you can track, understand, and change. From a longevity standpoint, cancer, and metabolic disease risk, elevated visceral fat is one of the most reliable—and modifiable—risk markers we can measure non-invasively.  It’s one of the few proven risk factors for chronic disease that you can directly influence—once you have a clear picture of how much you have.

References:

^{Zhou Y, et al. Obes Res Clin Pract. 2021;15(2):119–127.}

^{Kuk JL, et al. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2006;14(11):336–341.}

^{Cruz-Jentoft AJ, et al. Age Ageing. 2019;48(1):16–31.}

^{Ofenheimer A et al. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2020;74(8):1181–1191.}

^{Fan B et al. J Clin Densitom. 2014;17(3):344–377.}