Aerobic exercise inhibits the accumulation of visceral fat - a dangerous contributor to the development of type 2 diabetes and heart disease - according to a new study published in the medical journal Obesity.

An investigation carried out by exercise physiologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), US, assessed the impact of exercise in reducing the storage of visceral fat in a cohort of women put on an 800 calorie-a-day diet.

The cohort was divided equally into three groups: one group to a regimen of aerobic training, another to resistance training, and the final third to no exercise at all. All the participants were found to lose weight.

To assess the longer term results of the findings, the women in both the aerobics and resistance training exercise groups were requested to continue exercising for 40 minutes twice a week for the next 12 months.

A review of their progress revealed that those who maintained either their aerobics exercise or resistance training regimen regained no visceral fat, despite modest weight regains, while those who dropped out of the exercise regimen or were part of the original non-exercise group regained both weight and visceral fat.