Doomed to be 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 people.
In a finding about how humans regulate their body fat, some scientists say that certain people are constantly producing new fat cells to replace those that die. That’s why your body fat will stay the same despite the diets you do. And it’s overweight people who generate and replace these cells the most, 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 that contain a lipid vacuole that represents 95% of cell weight and forms the constituent element of fat 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 forming a large drop that occupies most of the cell, displacing the rest of the organelles to the periphery of the cell.
However, the new study conducted at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm found that the human adult constantly produces new adipocytes, regardless of weight, sex or age. The research studied 687 patients, both obese and thin, who lost large amounts of weight. The number and size of their adipocytes, as well as their age, sex, and body mass index were recorded.
By comparing this data with similar information from previous studies with children, the scientists found that the average number of adipocytes increases until 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’s so hard to lose weight and maintain that loss,” says Dr. Kirsty Spalding, who led the study.
The researchers now hope to discover how this adipocytes replenishment is regulated. And perhaps, they say, it might be possible to design new drugs capable of interfering with this process, which could potentially help people maintain their weight loss once they’ve achieved it.