My fellow nerds might enjoy this fascinating article that I came across, which hypothesises about the reasons/processes by which men tend toward more abdominal, visceral fat more so than women.
www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2019.01486/fullTakeaways for those without the time or inclination to read the full article:
As many of you will know, abdominal visceral fat is fat that accumulates within the abdominal cavity, in particular, the mesenteries and retroperitoneum. Visceral abdominal fat is the bad sort, the type that's associated with negative health implications.
Subcutaneous fat is the fun fun party fat that we all love so much. It lives beneath the skin in sexy af places and jiggles like I never want it to stop. Subcutaneous fat is not considered dangerous or unhealthy.
According to the hypotheses in the article, men tend to gain more abdominal visceral fat due to chylomicrons in males being bigger and in greater quantity than in women. After eating, these chylomicrons congest the lamina propria and the lymphatic system. This congestion predisposes the chylomicron triglycerides to hydrolysis by lipoprotein lipase (LPL). The liberated fatty acids are then stored by the nearby abdominal visceral adipocytes, leading to the accumulation of abdominal visceral fat.
Want to increase your chances of that tub of heavy cream going to the jiggly places?
Consume little and often, and move more.
The article states the observation that congestion in the lamina propria can be reduced by consuming calories more frequently and in smaller quantities, as opposed to chugging a pint of ice cream in one sitting, thus raising the chance your Ben & Jerry's will be stored as subcutaneous fat.
The lymphatic system, into which chylomicrons also drain, is a low-pressure circulatory system which, unlike the vascular system, does not have a pump (heart). Instead, fluid moves via compression from our muscles. The more we move, the more rapidly the fluids travel through the system. This enables greater distribution of calories consumed as a meal by carrying them away from the abdominal cavity. Alas, I can offer no informed opinion as to the optimal timing of your CrossFit session following a visit to Maccy D's.
It did occur to me that this might help to shed some light on the reported "delayed gain" phenomenon experienced by some when gaining with heavy cream. Merely brain-sketching here, but mesenteric visceral fat does drain into the vascular system, and so it's not unreasonable to wonder if a suddenly-bloated mesentery might drain more rapidly than normal, thus causing redistribution to subcutaneous fat stores later.
Hope at least someone finds this stuff as interesting as I do.
