Exercise and estrogen make fat cells fit
This next summary is looking into how fat tissue inflammation, or swelling, is related to obesity and diseases that come along with it, like diabetes. We know that regular exercise and our hormone estrogen (estradiol) help to improve our body's health, enhance the function of our body's power plants, known as mitochondria, and reduce inflammation. The researchers think that there might be a link between how well our mitochondria function and inflammation in our fat tissue. They believe exercise might work in a similar way to estrogen, by improving fat tissue health and reducing inflammation.
Now, let's understand why this is important. Obesity, along with its related diseases, is on the rise in the United States and worldwide. This is largely due to our increasingly inactive lifestyle and overeating. Over the past twenty years, researchers have learned that fat tissue plays an important role in linking obesity to disease. Our fat tissue can produce and release various hormones and immune factors. These factors are part of an intricate system that communicates with our immune cells, carrying out various tasks that help keep our body working correctly.
There are two types of fat tissue: white fat (WAT), which stores energy, and brown fat (BAT), which generates heat to keep us warm. We've recently started to realize that BAT might play a big part in keeping us healthy and could be 'activated' or turned on by things like exercise or cold temperatures.
As obesity progresses, WAT tends to get inflamed. This inflammation is closely tied with larger fat cells and resistance to insulin, a hormone that regulates our blood sugar levels. Research in animals has shown that inflammation in WAT itself can cause problems with our body's metabolism even without obesity. There are numerous examples of how specific immune factors released from WAT can impact our body's insulin resistance, like a protein called TNF-alpha, which interferes with the action of insulin.
One current idea suggests that the inflammation in WAT due to obesity happens because the fat cells are under stress. Specific behaviors, like regular exercise, could influence this process.
Research across different species has shown that regular exercise has an anti-inflammatory effect on WAT. For example, it was found that exercise reduces circulating inflammatory markers, which are substances in the blood that signal inflammation. This effect is seen in obese individuals as well as other groups with elevated inflammation, like older people who don't exercise much. Because there's a strong connection between inflammation in WAT and systemic inflammation (inflammation that affects the whole body), it's reasonable to think that exercise might directly affect the inflammation state of WAT.
Exercise and Estrogen Make Fat Cells “Fit”
Vieira-Potter, Victoria J.; Zidon, Terese M.; Padilla, Jaume
Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews. 43(3):172-178, July 2015
In simpler terms, this research is exploring how exercise might help reduce the inflammation in our body's fat tissue, which could lead to better health and lower risk of diseases related to obesity.
Jason & Rita.
