ABSTRACT
In 1998 the National Institutes of Health in the United States sponsored a report on the clinical guidelines for the identification, evaluation, and treatment of overweight and obesity in adults. Excess accumulation of adipose tissue (AT) in adults is positively associated with morbidity and mortality independent of age and gender. Differences in regional AT deposition between men and women should be considered when examining exercise-induced AT redistribution. Current knowledge regarding the dose–response relationships between exercise and body weight or total AT reduction depends in large measure upon a comparison of groups between studies that vary in exercise dose. Careful evaluation of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) specifically designed to examine the effect of increasing exercise amount on abdominal obesity reduction reveal conflicting findings. Most adults have a greater quantity of abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (ASAT) compared to visceral adipose tissue (VAT).
