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