Abdominal fatis associated with metabolic syndrome and is a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease.

Metabolic syndrome is diagnosed when someone has at least three of the following: abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low levels of high density liprorotein ("good") cholesterol, high blood pressure and increased levels of sugar in the blood.

Therefore it is important to reduce the size of one's abdominal fat cells. But reduction takes more than cutting calories, according to new research from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

Early results of the five-year study show that exercise should be added to the equation of reducing the size of abdominal fat cells.

"The message is very clear," said Tongjian You, Ph.D., instructor in geriatric medicine at Wake forest Baptist and lead author. "Exercise is important to reducing the size of these cells, and may one day be part of a prescription for treating the health complications associated with abdominal fat."

"However, considering the important role of abdominal fat cell size in predicting diabetes and heart disease, our study does indicate that addition of exercise to dietary weight loss is more beneficial than weight loss alone," he said.

Most of us (like me) are too lazy to exercise. This should be a wake-up all of some sorts.

The study results are reported in the August issue of the International Journal of Obesity.

Read more at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.