Best Way To Banish Belly Fat

Although you can’t see it, visceral (deep abdominal) fat increases your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke. Now researchers suggest that the amount of visceral fat you can lose may be affected by the type of diet you choose.

By modestly decreasing your carbohydrate intake while cutting calories overall, you can lose more visceral fat, say nutrition experts at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

In a university study, 69 overweight but healthy adults were put on an eight-week diet, cutting 1,000 calories a day. Half the volunteers followed a lower-fat diet and half followed a lower carbohydrate diet, getting 43 percent of their calories from carbohydrates instead of the standard 55 percent.

At the end of the experiment, those eating fewer carbohydrates had 11 percent less deep abdominal fat than those on the low-fat diet.