New Research Finds That With Obesity, the Problem Isn’t an Excess of Fat but Its Loss of Function

The hallmarks of adipose tissue dysfunction. Credit: Sakers et al./ Cel.
” The main role of adipose tissue dysfunction in disease and the extraordinary plasticity of fat tissue supports the pledge of modulating fat tissue phenotypes for healing functions,” compose the authors, led by Claudio J. Villanueva from the College of Life Sciences/David Geffen School of Medicine and Patrick Seale from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “Many questions and chances for future discovery stay, which will yield brand-new insights into adipose tissue biology and ideally lead to improved therapies for human disease.”.
Reference: “Adipose tissue plasticity in health and disease” by Alexander Sakers, Mirian Krystel De Siqueira, Patrick Seale and Claudio J. Villanueva, 3 February 2022, Cell.DOI: 10.1016/ j.cell.2021.12.016.
Research study reported in this publication was supported by NIDDK at the National Institutes of Health, the UCLA Life Sciences Fund, and UCLA Graduate Council Diversity Fellowship. The authors state no contending interests.

Obesity is understood to cause cardiometabolic diseases like hypertension and diabetes but associating these illness to simply a surplus of fat is a simplification. On a standard level, fat acts as a receptacle to save energy, however upon a better look it is a necessary star in essential bodily procedures like the immune action, the regulation of insulin level of sensitivity, and upkeep of body temperature. In an evaluation published in the journal Cell on February 3rd, 2022, researchers argue that the unfavorable health results of obesity stem not simply from an excess of fat however from the decrease in its capability to react to changes, or in other words, its plasticity.
As fat decreases in plasticity due to aging and weight problems, it loses its capability to respond to bodily cues. In the present design of this phenomenon, the rapid development of adipose tissue exceeds its blood supply, denying the fat cells of oxygen and causing the accumulation of cells that no longer divide.