Overweight Is Due to Inefficient Fats Metabolism, Study Shows

Weight gain can, in some instances, be attributed to a reduced ability to metabolize fat, researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have noted.

Some people might want more intensive lifestyle changes if they want to prevent obesity and type 2 diabetes, the researchers nored, who, at the moment, are setting up a new method of breaking down fat.

Scientists have long hunted for a reason for the inclination for people to develop obesity, weight problems and type 2 diabetes. Apart from the usual reasons, like diet and physical activity, differences in metabolism, which would eventually lead to differences in weight among people– is alleged to play a part.

The researchers have long- suspected the presence of physiological mechanisms in fatty tissue that cause some individuals to end up overweight and others not, regardless of similarities in lifestyle.

Fat Metabolism Study

In this study, the researchers analysed tissue samples from subcutaneous fat taken from the stomachs of women before and after a follow-up interval of ten years. What they found out was that the potential of the fat cells to free fatty acids, a system called lipolysis, in the tissue samples might be used to foresee which women would likely advance type 2 diabetes. Additionally they determined that these females had reduced activity in some genes involved in lipolysis.

Lipolysis is the process wherein a fat cell frees fatty acids, which might be then used as a source of energy with the backing of muscle. Researchers distinguish between basal lipolysis, which is incessant, and hormone-prompted lipolysis, which is brought about by energy requirements. The fats cells from the women who later developed overweight showed high basal but low hormone-induced lipolysis, which gave a 3 to 6 times greater risk of weight gain and type 2 diabetes.

According to the researchers, fat cells are like vehicles that have misplaced its capability to get into action when it needs to. The final result is that the fat cells finally absorb more fats than they can get rid of.

The groups first found out the association in a group of 54 ladies, who gave the first tissue samples between 2001 and 2003 and who have been followed up 13 years later. They then repeated the analysis on 28 different women who gave samples in 1998 and have been followed up 10 years later, with same results.

One of the aims of this study is to seek out approaches of picking out factors which run the risk of overweight and type 2 diabetes. Analyses of fat tissue are, nonetheless, annoying and may be carried out by more equipped laboratories. Therefore, the researchers have established an algorithm grounded on simple clinical and biochemical parameters from many individuals to attain an oblique estimation of the variety of fatty acids freed from fats cells and thus foresee weight gain.

The researchers observed that their results must be verified in more experiences and for men as well, but they hope to enhance a clinically sound manner of recognizing individuals who are at risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes, who might need lifestyle changes than others to stay healthy.