Social stress may prompt visceral fat deposits, investigators say.

HealthDay (8/5, Preidt) reported, “Social stress may cause the body to deposit more fat in the abdomen, which increases the risk of heart disease,” according to a Wake Forest study of female monkeys. The “monkeys were fed a Western-style diet that contained fat and cholesterol,” while being “housed in groups” where they “naturally established a pecking order from dominant to subordinate.” However, “the subordinate monkeys were not included in group grooming sessions as often as dominant monkeys, and were often the target of aggression.” Eventually, the team noted that the “subordinate monkeys…developed more fat in the abdominal cavity than other monkeys.” According to the paper appearing in Obesity, “this abdominal (visceral) fat promotes the build-up of plaque in blood vessels that leads to heart disease.”

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