Condemned to being fat? A new study says that if your genetic disposition makes you have more fat cells, no diet you do will reduce your body mass. Obese people generate more fat cells than thin ones.
In a finding on how humans regulate their body fat, some scientists say that certain people constantly produce new fat cells to replace those that die. That is why your body fat will remain the same regardless of the diets you make. And it is the overweight people that most generate and replace these cells, according to a study in the journal Nature.
It is very difficult to lose weight and maintain that loss
Adipose cells or adipocytes are the cells that make up adipose tissue. They are rounded cells containing a lipid vacuole representing 95% of the cell weight and forming the constituent element of the fatty tissue. Its fundamental characteristic is that they store a large amount of fats (triglycerides), which, in the case of adipocytes of white adipose tissue (the most abundant in the adult human organism) are grouped together forming a large drop that occupies most of the cell , Displacing the remaining organelles to the periphery of the cell.
However, the new study carried out at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm found that the human adult constantly produces new adipocytes, regardless of their weight, sex or age. The study studied 687 patients, both obese and lean, who lost large amounts of weight. They recorded the number and size of their adipocytes, as well as their age, sex, and body mass index.
When comparing these data with similar information from previous studies with children, the scientists found that the average number of adipocytes increases to about 20 years. According to the study the number of fat cells is established in adolescence. And then it remains relatively constant and closely related to the individual’s body mass index. “This explains why it is so difficult to lose weight and maintain that loss,” says Dr. Kirsty Spalding who led the study.
Researchers are now hoping to discover how this adipocyte replenishment is regulated. And perhaps, they say, it would be possible to design new drugs capable of interfering with this process, which could potentially help people maintain their weight loss once it has been achieved.
