The Skinny On Bad Fat

[Guest guest]

The Skinny On Bad Fat

 

The role that inflammation plays in diabetes, heart

disease and

other disorders is a hot topic in medical research these

days. The

recent finding that poor oral health contributes to

cardiovascular

risk underscores the complex interplay of our bodily

systems.

 

Now, researchers from the Washington University School of

Medicine

in St. Louis (WU) have obtained the first evidence of a

potential

mechanistic link between abdominal fat and systemic

inflammation.

 

But it's not just any old belly fat that causes

inflammation. This

became apparent back in 2004, when WU researchers found

that

removing abdominal fat with liposuction did not provide

the

metabolic benefits normally associated with similar

amounts of fat

loss induced by dieting or exercising.

 

" Despite removing large amounts of subcutaneous fat

from beneath the

skin - about 20 percent of a person's total body fat mass

- there

were no beneficial medical effects, " said Samuel

Klein, the senior

investigator in both studies.

 

To investigate further, the new study focused on visceral

fat - the

fat that surrounds the organs in the gut. Unlike

subcutaneous fat,

visceral fat is not easy to remove surgically because it

is

surrounded by the intestines and other internal organs.

 

However, analyzing the blood that ran through the

visceral fat, the

researchers found that it was rich with an important

inflammatory

molecule called interleukin-6 (IL-6). " [The] blood

had levels of IL-

6 that were 50 percent higher than blood from the

periphery, " said

co-researcher Luigi Fontana.

 

The high levels of IL-6 correlated with concentrations of

an

inflammatory substance called C-reactive protein (CRP) in

the body.

 

High CRP levels are related to inflammation, and chronic

inflammation is associated with insulin resistance,

hypertension,

type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis, among other things.

 

" These data support the notion that visceral fat

produces

inflammatory cytokines that contribute to insulin

resistance and

cardiovascular disease, " said Klein.

 

Fontana added that the findings help explain how visceral

fat can

lead to inflammation, insulin resistance and other

metabolic

problems. And by contributing to inflammation, visceral

fat cells in

the abdomen may be doing even more than that.

 

" Many years ago, atherosclerosis was thought to be

related to

lipids and to the excessive deposit of cholesterol in the

arteries, "

he explained. " Nowadays, it's clear that

atherosclerosis is an

inflammatory disease. There also is evidence that

inflammation plays

a role in cancer, and there is even evidence that it

plays a role in

aging. "

 

 

Source: Washington University School of Medicine