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Transcript of “How fat cells make you sick”
The bigger a fat cell is, the further it has to stretch to grab an oxygen molecule as it floats by, being short of oxygen, is unpleasant, maybe even inflammatory
You definitely wouldn’t consider yourself a runner. The idea of running FOR FUN, is preposterous….. but, you do on occasion run.
The motivation…………. to catch SOMETHING.
Maybe your toddler, the elevator doors or a bus. Thankfully, you don’t have to run to catch your dinner.
You know, to keep running, you need AIR.
As long as you can match oxygen in, with oxygen use, you can keep going. How fit you are, determines how far you can go………before you run out of AIR. The first sign of trouble, is huffing and puffing, then “things” start to burn………. your pace slows, then stalls.
Being breathless is something we’ve all experienced.
It’s unpleasant.
But, it is not the same as suffocating.
Scientists from the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Baton Rouge, think this is how fat cells, in obese people, frequently feel.
They’re breathless.
There is oxygen around, but not quite enough, to feel comfortable, but they’re not actually suffocating (hypoxic)…..
Catching fat cells breathing
The team set about trying to catch fat cells breathing inside people. As you can imagine, this was no easy task – to do this, they needed to access fat cells, INSIDE people. OUCH !
Fortunately, they managed to find 21 people, prepared to sacrifice a few fat cells and endure a lot of poking and prodding, for their worthy cause. Twelve of the people, were fatties (average BMI was 31.7), twelve of the people, were skinnies (average BMI was 22.1). All were “healthy” on the outside, they were not taking any medications, that could possible interfere with their fat cells vitality.
As expected, the fatties, were more insulin resistant, and had a lot more fat cells.
“Borrowing” fat cells
The fat cells the team “borrowed”, came from deep inside the volunteers bellies. The same spot was accessed in all the volunteers. Before, pinching the fat sample, the adipose tissue was explored, using fancy probes that were able to measure oxygen levels and temperature….
Once the partial oxygen level and temperature had been established, the team reached in and grabbed a chunk of fat cells, to analyse in the laboratory.
Breathless fat cells
The fat cells living inside BIG bellies, were not getting quite as much oxygen (pO2 = 46.8 ± 10.6 mmHg) , as those inside skinny bellies (pO2 = 55.4 ± 9.1 mmHg).
They weren’t suffocating, but there was a difference.
Enough to matter ?
Probably.
Digging deeper
When the team examined the fat biopsies, the reason for the breathlessness, was obvious. The fat cells taken from fat bellies, had fewer blood vessels attending to their oxygen requirements. The problem, rarefaction or capillary dropout.
Shame……………. these little guys, were “running” for the bus, but weren’t getting their oxygen needs taken care of.
No wonder fat cells are upset and not working at their best.
Calling out for help
It is generally accepted that the metabolic troubles associated with obesity, happen when there is low grade inflammation present.
Fat cells are blamed for the inflammation.
Because, they’re the source of the pro-inflammatory chemicals, causing all the trouble. But why are they spewing out this chemicals ?
The short answer, is usually they’re TOO FULL i.e. you ate too much and moved too little.
But, hang on a minute, storing fat is what they do. Surely they should be able to expand, to meet the demand…..why can’t they store those excess calories in you ?
Maybe it’s because they’re BREATHLESS.
All they need, is a moment or two, to catch their breath.
Can you help ?
Yes and no.
To really solve their problems, you need to grow more blood vessels and expand their capillary beds.
And this, is not so easy to do.
But it can be done…….
Glitazones grow blood vessels
Glitazones are meds used to treat type 2 diabetes, this category of drug includes pioglitazone, better known as Actos and rosiglitazone, better known as Avandia. The way these drugs work, is they turn on a whole bunch of genes, because they turn on PPARg, a nuclear transcription factor. Since PPAR is a very busy nuclear transcription factor, it controls lipid and glucose metabolism, switching this on, changes the metabolism of fat cells. One of the ways it does this, is it causes vascular endothelium growth factor or VEG-F for short, to be released.
So what does vascular endothelium growth factor do ? It grows vascular endothelium i.e. blood vessels.
More blood vessels, improve the oxygen supply, helping fat cells, be a little less breathless.
And a little happier.
More blood vessels works, so making the blood vessels you’ve already got, work a little better, should achieve the same result…..
Shrink the fat cells
To reach out and grab an oxygen molecule, it helps if you are in close proximity to a blood vessel. Of course, the bigger a fat cell is, the harder it is going to be to reach out and grab, those oxygen molecules as they float by, because………….. they’re just that little bit, further away. But, if you can shrink the fat cell, just a little, by losing some weight, it will end up being, a little closer to a blood vessel.
Making grabbing that all important oxygen, a little easier….and the fat cell, a little happier.
So, losing weight is one way to bring relief to breathless fat cells, but it is not the only way, you could also work at improving oxygen delivery.
Sending more oxygen through
Remember, we started off, “running for the bus” – now, the fitter you are, the longer you can keep running…..
The reason, the fitter you are, the more adapt your body is, at responding to the increased oxygen need, because your body diverts blood, into blood vessels that are “resting”. It’s called capillary recruitment. Moving more, will help you do this better.
So you can help your fat cells, catch their breath, by getting out of breath more often.
PS. Oxygen delivery depends on blood vessel dilation. Nitric oxide availability, influences this dilation, you can up your nitric oxide levels by eating your greens and beetroot and sun tanning on a regular basis.
PSS. Sleep apnea creates hypoxia, addressing this, will help improve oxygen delivery.
Further reading
Moving up in the world helps you avoid the middle age spread
Tell your boss you want to climb the altitude ladder, so you can enjoy the benefits of biologically based appetite suppression and avoid packing on those pounds
Exercise can make-over your fat cells even if you’re not losing weight
Exercise changes things on the inside. Fat cells that have been gyming for 6 months show 7000 changes to their genetic profiles.
Is overwhelm turning your fat cells into hypochondriacs ?
When fat cells have too much to do, they need a me day, so they start acting like a hypochondriac, hoping to get the day off BUT… instead they get a war.
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