The Truth About Fat Cells (1): Are Fat Cells Simple Lumps of Fat?
No. Fat cells are live, active cells. Fat cells consist of a flat nucleus that regulates overall cellular metabolism, mitochondria that produce intracellular energy, and a thin cytoplasm that surrounds fat components.
Fat cells not only store fat, but also regulate the body's physiological activities and secrete hormones. It also secretes leptin to prevent weight gain and balance the body so that the body fat is maintained properly.
The Truth About Fat Cells (2): Do Fat Cells Last Forever?
n adults, 10% of new fat cells are lost and replaced each year. Like most cells in the body, fat cells eventually die. Dr. Michael Jensen, an endocrinologist and obesity researcher at the Mayo Clinic, said, "Usually, when old fat cells die, they are replaced by new ones."
The Truth About Fat Cells (3): Do Obese People Have More Fat Cells?
People who were obese as children have a higher number of fat cells than the average person. In general, the number of fat cells increases through childhood and adolescence and stabilizes in adulthood.
The average person has 10 billion ~ 30 billion fat cells in their body. However, an obese person can have more than 100 billion fat cells.
The Truth About Fat Cells (4): Don't Fat Cells Shrink with Age?
No. The size of fat cells is very variable. Depending on the amount of fat stored in the body, fat cells expand or contract. The cells themselves do not disappear.
According to a study by the American Diabetes Association, published in the NCBI in January 2017, patients who lost weight after bariatric metabolic surgery had a reduction in fat cell size. "After weight loss, the size of the fat cells becomes smaller than the fat cells of people with a similar BMI," said Dr. Kilsti L. Spalding, a cell biologist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
It should be noted, however, that there was no change in the number of fat cells themselves. Even if the size of fat cells decreases, the number does not give. "The fact that the number of fat cells can increase but not decrease shows that it's easy to gain weight again after weight loss," Dr. Spalding said.
The Truth About Fat Cells (5): Does Fat Cells Grow to Cause Disease?
First, when fat cells become larger, they secrete inflammatory substances such as fatty acids and cytokines, which cause insulin resistance and increase the risk of diabetes.
Secondly, complications may arise. Fat is least toxic when stored in fat cells. However, when the amount of fat stored in one cell increases, it is stored in other tissues. When fat is stored in the liver, it becomes fatty liver, when stored in the pancreas, it can cause diabetes, and when stored in the brain, it can cause insulin resistance. Fat cells that have lost their function are considered harmful to the body and are eaten by immune cells, which causes an inflammatory response.
Third, if you continue to overeat or exercise while you are fat, you will develop 'leptin resistance', which reduces the leptin effect. This means that even if fat cells secrete a lot of leptin, the brain does not respond.
The Truth About Fat Cells (7): Is There Any Way to Reduce the Number of Fat Cells?
There is a way to artificially reduce it. It's liposuction. In cases such as severe obesity, the fat cells themselves are severely denatured, making it difficult to return to normal. That's why bariatric surgery such as liposuction is the most effective treatment available.
However, even with liposuction, which artificially reduces the number of fat cells, you can easily gain weight again. Usually, yo-yo is easy to come within 1 year after liposuction. This is because our bodies have homeostasis, which means that our weight and body fat are trying to return to their normal levels. The same is true for fat extracted by liposuction.
A 2011 study by Drs. Hernandez and Dr. Eckel of the University of Colorado found that women who underwent liposuction were all back to normal after one year. On average, I lost about 3 kilograms of body fat, which is enough to bring it back within a year.
However, the location of the reattached fat was not the area that was extracted by liposuction. I pulled fat out of my lower abdomen and thighs, and after a year, I gained fat around my upper abdomen, forearms, and shoulders. However, it is not known whether this recovery is due to the production of new fat cells or through the expansion of existing fat cells.
The Truth About Fat Cells (8): Is cellulite caused by changes in fat cells?
No. Most cellulite is bruised flesh caused by the degeneration of an extracellular matrix (ECM) that fills between cells in the body. Substrate is everywhere in our bodies. Because of this, cellulite can appear anywhere from the scalp to the soles of the feet.
There are many causes of cellulite, but it is exacerbated by a combination of lifestyle habits that have been ruined by frequent dieting, excessive exercise, and chronic inflammation. In order to treat cellulite, it is necessary to have a systematic process of treating the muscle inflammation, lymphatic circulation, and edema that cause it.
The Truth About Fat Cells (9): Is There Bad Fat and Good Fat?
Fat is also divided into white fat and brown fat. White fat is the same fat as subcutaneous fat and visceral fat, while brown fat is a fat that does a good job.
To put it simply, white fat is a storehouse of energy sources that are not necessary for the human body. If it continues to accumulate, the number and size of fat cells increases, leading to obesity.
Brown fat, on the other hand, generates heat, which stimulates metabolism and burns stored energy as heat. However, most of the brown fat disappears as it grows, and it is known that it remains on the back of the neck and shoulders in the adult body at about 50~100g.
It is practically impossible to make brown fat. However, a team led by Bruce Spikleman at Harvard Medical School reported that when certain hormones in white fat stimulate white fat, it acts like brown fat.
According to this study, when muscles are stimulated by exercise, muscle cells produce a hormone called irisin, which stimulates white fat to behave like brown fat. At this time, it is more effective to do moderate and low-intensity strength training rather than aerobic exercises, and typical exercises include squats, core strengthening exercises, and push-ups.
It's not just about exercise, it's also about eating. Catechins, omega-3s, and capsaicin help stimulate the body's metabolism and activate brown fat.
According to this study, when muscles are stimulated by exercise, muscle cells produce a hormone called irisin, which stimulates white fat to behave like brown fat. At this time, it is more effective to do moderate and low-intensity strength training rather than aerobic exercises, and typical exercises include squats, core strengthening exercises, and push-ups.
It's not just about exercise, it's also about eating. Catechins, omega-3s, and capsaicin help stimulate the body's metabolism and activate brown fat.
Comments (0)
There are no comments for this article. Be the first one to leave a message!