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Ho Ho Healthy: What Santa’s Belly Can Teach Us About Metabolic Health

Posted on Monday December 22, 2025 in Metabolic Health

Tags: VAT, Metabolic Health, NH1, search website using Tags to find related stories.

Every Christmas, we picture Santa Claus the same way: rosy cheeks, a booming laugh, and a belly that shakes “like a bowl full of jelly.” For generations, that jolly physique has been shorthand for indulgence. But what if Santa’s famous belly isn’t a sign of poor health at all? What if it’s the reason he’s able to circle the globe every December and still thrive at a great age?

Welcome to the surprisingly science-backed story of Santa’s metabolically healthy belly.

Not All Fat Is the Same

Modern health science has taught us something important: body fat isn’t just about how much you have, but where you store it.

There are two main places fat likes to live:

Subcutaneous fat – the fat that sits just under the skin.
Visceral fat – the fat stored deep inside the abdomen, around vital organs, medically known as visceral adipose tissue (VAT).

Visceral fat is the troublemaker. It’s associated with insulin resistance, inflammation, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Subcutaneous fat, especially when stored around the hips and abdomen but outside the abdominal cavity, is metabolically much safer.

And this is where Santa shines.

Santa: A Model of Metabolically Healthy Adipose Tissue

Despite his generous waistline, Santa appears to be what scientists call metabolically healthy. His spare energy is carefully parked in the subcutaneous compartment, not packed around his liver, heart, and pancreas.

In other words:

Big waist? Yes.
High visceral fat? No.
Metabolic disease? Not a chance.

His adipose tissue acts as a thermal blanket and protective energy store, safely buffering excess calories instead of spilling them into organs where they cause harm. This is why Santa can enjoy mince pies year after year and still maintain the stamina needed to haul presents across frozen landscape, manage reindeer logistics, and squeeze down chimneys worldwide.

Ho. Ho. Ho.

A Visual Lesson (Yes, We’ll Show the Belly)

Santa is obese however because his visual adipose tissue, shown in this CT of his abdomen as Green pixels he is metabolically healthy which means that despite his great age and BMI, he is free from modern collections including diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and insulin resistance- lucky old Santa!

In the image of Santa’s abdomen the point isn’t comedy—it’s comparison. When placed alongside scans or illustrations of less fortunate human adults with high levels of visceral fat, the difference is striking.

Santa’s belly is:

Rounded and soft
External rather than deep
A sign of energy storage, not metabolic stress

Some thinner-looking adults, even those with a ‘healthy BMI’ by contrast, carry a disproportionate amount of visceral fat, putting them at higher risk despite a smaller waistline. It’s a powerful reminder that appearances can be misleading.

in this example showing the CT of the belly of an equally large gentleman of a younger age, you can see quite a different picture. This mere mortal has hardly any subcutaneous tissue and all his adipose tissue is stored inside his abdomen creating high metabolic risk- the largest risk to a mere mortal’s health.

Christmas Cheer Meets Real Science

Santa’s longevity isn’t magic alone—it’s biology. His body has found a healthy way to manage surplus energy, protecting his heart and metabolism while keeping him warm in the North Pole winter.

So this Christmas, when Santa laughs and his belly jiggles, remember:
that jelly isn’t a flaw—it’s functional.

And maybe the greatest gift of all is the reminder that a human mortal’s health journey may start with tape measure (weight : height ratio > .5 look out), but it’s what you do with the results that counts!

Ho ho ho—and here’s to a metabolically merry Christmas. 🎄

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