13 Fascinating Insights About Body Fat

While entire industries have focused on critiquing and trying to reduce body fat, this substance—also known as adipose tissue—is vital for many bodily functions. It plays a key role in metabolism, insulin regulation, and storing energy. Additionally, fat helps keep you warm. Excessive fat can be harmful, but too little can also lead to health issues. Here are 13 important facts about adipose tissue.

Body fat is stored as triglycerides.

Triglycerides consist of free fatty acid molecules linked by glycerol, a form of alcohol. Most of the fat in our body is kept in fat cells called adipocytes, but fat can also accumulate in droplets within skeletal muscle cells. Additionally, some triglycerides circulate freely in the bloodstream and are the easiest to break down during exercise.

Fat is actually an organ.

Fat is more than just a cushion—it’s an organ in the endocrine system. “Fat secretes a lot of hormones while activating or deactivating many more,” explained Dr. Indraneil Mukherjee, a physician at the Northwell Health Florina Cancer Center in New York, in 2017. It consists of adipocytes and a type of fat cell known as the stroma-vascular fraction, which includes growth factors—signals the body uses to communicate with cells—along with stem cells, blood cells, and various other cell types.

Fat plays a key role in regulating your metabolism.

Adipose tissue is referred to as “a metabolically dynamic organ” primarily responsible for storing excess energy, according to a study in Archives of Medical Science. It also produces “various biologically active compounds that regulate metabolic homeostasis.” In essence, it helps maintain your body’s energy balance by managing appetite signals from the central nervous system and controlling metabolic functions in peripheral tissues. Chronic over-consumption of food can lead to inflammation and metabolic disorders, potentially causing obesity.

White fat provides the body with energy.

White adipose tissue serves as the body’s energy reservoir, containing endocrine cells that secrete essential hormones and molecules. There are also specific “adipose depots” where white fat is more likely to accumulate, such as around the heart, lungs, and kidneys.

Brown fat helps to keep the body warm.

Brown adipose tissue is commonly found in newborn humans and hibernating mammals, as noted in a study in Frontiers in Endocrinology. Its primary role is to generate heat, which keeps the body warm, and it does so by having a higher concentration of mitochondria and capillaries compared to white adipose tissue.

Until recently, researchers were unsure whether brown fat was present in adults. “There’s a lot of excitement surrounding this discovery,” said Dr. Yi Sherry Zhang, founder and chief science officer of the personalized nutrition company GenPalate, in an interview with Mytour in 2017. “It helps regulate energy expenditure, which is important because drugs targeting this type of fat may offer a new approach to treating obesity.”

Both excessive and insufficient body fat can increase the risk of diabetes.

It’s widely known that obesity can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, but having too little fat can also contribute to this risk, according to the American Diabetes Association. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body doesn’t properly produce or respond to insulin. Insufficient fat often results in a lack of lipid-storing “compartments,” disrupting triglyceride and free fatty acid levels, which can lead to insulin resistance.

Your microbiome could have an impact on your body fat levels.

Researchers at McMaster University in Canada are investigating postbiotics, the by-products produced by bacteria that aid in the more efficient synthesis of insulin. Studies have shown that giving postbiotics to obese mice improved their insulin sensitivity without requiring weight loss, opening the door to potential new treatments for people with obesity.

Excessive fat can raise your risk of developing cancer.

Adipose tissue also releases “hormones that accelerate the growth of cancer cells,” explained Mukherjee. When adipose tissue expands, it allows more B- and T-cells to infiltrate. These immune cells release inflammatory molecules such as adipokines, which communicate with other cells, and cytokines, which regulate blood cell growth and the immune system. This combination creates an ideal environment for cancer, according to a study in Frontiers in Physiology.

Fat transplants are a real procedure.

Mukherjee pointed out that “fat transplant is legal,” meaning you can surgically transfer fat from one part of your body to another for cosmetic reasons without harm. These fat transfers can enhance areas that were previously flat, but be aware: You may face side effects such as swelling, bruising, several weeks of recovery, or even develop lumps in the transplanted tissue.

Dieting does not decrease the number of fat cells in your body.

The number of fat cells in your body can increase, but once formed, these cells never disappear. “With dieting, they just shrink,” explained Mukherjee. Zhang added, “Each person has between 10 billion and 30 billion fat cells.” Individuals with obesity may have up to 100 billion fat cells.

Body fat interacts with other organs in the body.

Fat releases tiny molecules called microRNAs that regulate gene activity, according to a study in Nature. After injecting genetically modified mice with fluorescent liver cell microRNAs, researchers observed a significant reduction in liver cell fluorescence, indicating that the fat tissue was communicating with the liver to control gene expression. This research aims to explore this process further to develop new treatments for obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The genetic foundations of fat may lead to new treatments for obesity.

“We are starting to grasp the genetic basis of fat distribution and obesity,” said Zhang. “We’ve recently published findings on genes that influence how body fat is distributed.” She believes these discoveries will help researchers understand the genetic aspects of common conditions like metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.

Epigenetics represents the cutting edge of fat research.

Researchers examining fat to gain a better understanding of metabolic disorders have focused on epigenetics, which is the study of how molecules turn genes on or off without changing the DNA itself. Zhang believes that epigenetic alterations are likely crucial in the development of chronic conditions such as metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. “Unlike the genetic code, these changes can be reversed or modified, offering the potential for new methods to prevent and treat these widespread disorders,” she explained.