Posted on 08/22/2016 8:27:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
These findings indicate that fat cells in obese people do something different than in healthy people
A new study finds striking metabolic differences between fat cells from obese and normal weight people—but it’s not clear what the findings mean to overall health. WHY IT MATTERS:
Obesity is associated with complications like diabetes and heart disease. But over the past 15 years, evidence has emerged that a subgroup of obese people are metabolically healthy, meaning they don’t have the insulin resistance, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, and high triglycerides typical of obesity. That has led to questions of whether treating the obesity itself is the way to target these problems, or whether some other kind of metabolic imbalance is to blame.
THE NITTY GRITTY:
To see if there were differences in the kind of fat that obese people and normal weight people carry, scientists took fat biopsies from three groups of participants: 17 non-obese, 21 insulin-sensitive obese, and 30 insulin-resistant obese people. By looking at gene expression profiles, they wanted to discern whether the second group looked more like the first, or the third.
They found that when they dosed participants with insulin and then biopsied fat cells, the cells’ responses were almost indistinguishable in the two obese groups. While insulin changed levels of gene expression in over 200 genes in both groups of obese participants, it affected the expression just two genes in the non-obese group. Their results were published Thursday in Cell Reports.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:
Gene expression can change the proteins a cell has to work with—so these findings indicate that fat cells in obese people are doing something different than fat cells in healthy people, said Dr. Mikael Rydén, an endocrinologist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and lead researcher in the study. “We think that adds fuel to the debate,” he said. “It would imply that you are not protected from bad outcomes if you are a so-called fit and fat person.”
BUT KEEP IN MIND:
While the overall activity of genes was similar between the obese groups, some genes did differ between the two, both in whether their expression changed at all, and the magnitude of change. This very observation could negate the study as evidence against the existence of fit and fat, said Dr. Samuel Klein, a gastroenterologist specializing in nutrition at Washington University School of Medicine in Missouri.
“I don’t think this study has any bearing on that question,” he said. “Based on your ability to consume oxygen during maximal exercise, you can be obese and be fitter than someone who’s lean. And if you are fat but fit you have a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes than if you’re lean and unfit.” Still, Klein said that the low change in gene expression in the non-obese group was “remarkable.”
“There’s really something very interesting about adipose tissue that we need to understand further,” he said.
The study also only looked at fat cells, Rydén pointed out. It doesn’t tell us how insulin might affect the function of other tissues, like kidneys and livers. Additionally all of the participants in the obese group were scheduled to have bariatric surgery, meaning the study may only apply to the severely obese and not to all obese people.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Terms like “healthy obesity” and “fat but fit” may oversimplify a complicated health issue that scientists still have a lot to learn about. Republished with permission from STAT. This article originally appeared on August 18, 2016
“Can you aim for 150?”
Seriously? You want someone to starve themselves just to meet an arbitrary goal like that?
Well im one inch shorter than you at 137. When i hit 140 i feel fat.
” ..but i know i could eat better, but i am happy.”
Same here.
I may die carrying a few extra pounds but I’ll enjoy what I eat while I can!
Better to die overweight and happy than to die slim, trim and miserable.
I know people who agonize over every spoonful of food they eat.
I can not imagine a more miserable existence.
If you look at the differences in the American diet from @ 1940 through today, you'll find that we eat far more processed & refined foods today than we did 40-60 years ago.
All these processed & refined foods contain stuff in them that IMO the human body isn't supposed to be ingesting, processing and expelling. Read the ingredients of Cheeto's for example. (Cheeto's and Pizza are my kryptonite.) How many of those ingredients can you pronounce properly? Or even know what they are?
As I stopped eating refined & processed foods and moved back to whole foods (fruits, vegetables, chicken, turkey, some beef) I saw my weight start falling. No sooner did I pick up a bag of Cheeto's and eat a pizza (and then fell off the health kick wagon..) did I see the weight start returning.
My own opinion is that it's all the refined/processed/pre-processed foods we eat in this country now vs. good old fashioned home cooking using natural ingredients. At least that's my experience.
but I don't think they suffer anymore than skinny people from cancer or aids or car accidents or murders etc...
their health problems are long, drawn out....
cancer,aids,car accidents, murder, etc can be deadly pretty quick....
Fat people seem to think so; although I think that in 99% of the cases, this is an excuse -- a rationalization -- for the lack of discipline to lose weight.
I weight about 30 pounds more than any chart I can find. My blood work is perfect. I can keep up with probably 80% of men my age (55+) on the track or road.
I never smoked and don’t drink.
So, on paper I am as fit as you can get for a fat guy.
My guess is that my frame is going to fall apart before most men my age because of the stress on joints and what not.
If anyone things walking is lame exercise consider this: I started a new job after taking a few years off to care for some relatives. I walked every day for about an hour.
Now...I put on 15 of those 30 pounds since the end of May. Sitting on my ass is killing me. We haven’t changed our diet, which is mostly protien and few carbs.
So, yes, for a short term you can be fit and fat. But not for ever.
i look at the skinny people, really skinny people, and i feel sorry for them for being so fragile looking... it don’t look healthy.
i would rather be jolly...
ping for later
I see a few people who look anorexic.
My neighbor is a lady in her late forties and she is as slender as can be.
She eats good but works two jobs, takes care of her house and yard by herself and takes her dogs walking every day.
Just a high energy gal.
oh absolutely! You have to shop the params of the grocery store and blow off most everything in the middle aisles (as I polish off some .. save me ... FRITOS :( ).
It’s funny but after a while you don’t really miss the junky stuff and you feel so much better it’s amazing. All habit.
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