A cheap warm drink could be the answer to trimming down stubborn belly fat – and Brad Pitt loves it. “Hidden” visceral fat is found deep in your abdomen, compromising your health by surrounding essential organs like the liver and intestines.
Despite being only a fraction of total body fat, excess visceral fat significantly amplifies the risk of serious conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. Fortunately, there’s a straightforward fix—and it starts with your kettle.
So why matcha is beneficial for you? And why are Brad and others sipping on it?
The health website patient.info says A-list celebrities have a penchant for this healthy beverage. The site says: “Brad Pitt drinks it instead of booze, Serena Williams uses it as part of her sports diet, and Miranda Kerr slathers it on her face.”
Hollywood heavy-hitter Brad Pitt, known for roles in Fight Club and Se7en, got hooked on the drink via recommendation from a pal.
Pitt got interested in it after learning about the drink from a friend. He told a GQ reporter ‘you’re going to love this’ as he handed them a cup.
Patient.info says it’s good for brain and heart health and has anti-oxidants. It can also help with stress, skin and hair, as well as bone health and weight-loss. They note: “Many of the nutrients found in high levels in matcha – such as amino acids, polyphenols, and antioxidants like vitamin C – can do a lot of good for your body.”
It also sounds a note of moderation, pointing out: “But before you stock your cupboards with matcha powder, it’s worth remembering that there’s not enough evidence from experts to recommend how much you should take to reap these benefits.”
Patient.info says follow a diverse, vibrant diet where everything is enjoyed in moderation and advising that when whipping up matcha tea, one must avoid boiling water which can zap vital nutrients.
According to Nathan Honess, a personal trainer with Bio-Synergy, making a small tweak to your tea time could pay dividends. “To help reduce visceral fat, there’s a few easy changes you can make to your diet and one involves boiling the kettle. Instead of your normal cuppa try switching to matcha green tea – a study found that the key nutrient – catechin – helped reduce the visceral fat in its participants, as well as overall body fat.”
For those unenthused by matcha, he suggests opting for a cup of green or peppermint tea to support digestion and boost metabolism—an echo of enduring wisdom in 2023. The cost won’t bust your budget either: Sainsbury’s currently prices a box of matcha at just £1.70 for 20 bags, which works out at about 8.5p per brew.
Nathan continued: “It’s sometimes referred to as ‘hidden fat’ because it’s stored deep in your body and can be hard to distinguish. Too much visceral fat can lead to health problems such as lower back pain, heart disease and diabetes.”, reports Gloucestershire Live.
Meanwhile, regarding the creeping issue of visceral fat, The Mirror reported that high-calorie diets and sedentary lifestyles typically underlie its build-up. To tackle this health hazard, reducing calorie consumption – particularly from saturated fats and sugars – coupled with increasing physical exercise, is recommended.
A local NHS trust has warned: “Visceral fat is stored around and between your internal organs in your abdomen. This type of fat increases your risk of heart and circulatory diseases and Type 2 diabetes.”
A study from 2007, published in the Obesity journal, involved 240 men and women with “visceral fat-type obesity” consuming green tea with varying levels of catechins daily for 12 weeks. The research found that those who consumed a higher amount of catechins (583mg) saw a more significant decrease in fat.
What else can help reduce visceral fat?
Nathan suggests: “Leafy greens are a good addition to your weekly shop to get rid of visceral fat; try a helping of spinach or kale with your evening meal or lunchtime salad. One of the best methods of exercise is to hit 10,000 steps a day (to increase your activity levels) and also through regular high intensity interval training sessions (HIIT).
“As the name suggests, HIIT involves short, intense bursts of exercise – think lunges, squats, burpees – which get your heart rate up and can help reduce fat when done regularly alongside a healthy diet.”
He concluded: “Regular exercise and eating wholesome, nutritious foods is the best approach at targeting visceral fat.”
In addition, getting enough sleep, managing stress, and moderating alcohol consumption can contribute to reducing fat. The findings of the 2007 study suggested that catechin aids in reducing “obesity and cardiovascular disease risks, according to the researchers.They stated: “Decreases in body weight, body mass index, body fat ratio, body fat mass, waist circumference, hip circumference, visceral fat area, and subcutaneous fat area were found to be greater in the catechin group than in the control group.”
The continuous consumption of a green tea extract high in catechins led to a reduction in body fat, systolic blood pressure, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, suggesting that such an extract contributes to a decrease in obesity and cardiovascular disease risks. “To help reduce visceral fat, there’s a few easy changes you can make to your diet and one involves boiling the kettle. Instead of your normal cuppa try switching to matcha green tea – a study found that the key nutrient – catechin – helped reduce the visceral fat in its participants, as well as overall body fat.”
What impact could visceral fat have on my health and how much is too much?
Diabetes.co.uk says that Harvard University notes around 10% of our total fat is likely to be stored as visceral fat. “Therefore, if you are carrying higher amounts of body fat than is recommended, it is therefore more likely that you are also storing more visceral fat than is healthy,” the site says. The diabetes website emphasises the importance of distinguishing between visceral fat and subcutaneous fat.
Subcutaneous fat is the fat stored just beneath our skin. The fat we can feel on our arms and legs is subcutaneous fat.
A growing belly can result from both types of fat. The fat we can feel just under the skin is subcutaneous fat, but we may also be storing significant extra fat within our abdomen where our organs reside. This intra-abdominal fat is our visceral fat.
According to Diabetes.co.uk: “Carrying a high amount of visceral fat is known to be associated with insulin resistance, which can lead to glucose intolerance and type 2 diabetes. Researchers have found that visceral secretes a protein called retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) which has been shown to increase resistance to insulin.” The site further warns of the potential risks associated with this condition.