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Excess fat produces hormones that affect fertility and the insulin response

Excess fat produces hormones that affect fertility and the insulin response

Only after 1987 did the capacity of the fat cell to produce substances that function with hormones and capable of acting locally and systemically. Currently, the amount of hormones produced by adipose tissue is so great, as well as the expression of so many hormone receptors, that we can say that fat is the most important endocrine organ of the body. Some of these hormones are related to insulin resistance, with leptin, adiponectin, interleukin-6, TNF-alpha and PAI-1 being the most studied.

To understand a little the influence of these hormones on the regulation of appetite and caloric burn, let us better understand leptin, whose name has its origin in the Greek word (leptos) meaning thin. Leptin is a protein expressed almost exclusively by fat in response to cellular changes secondary to the effect of insulin, functioning as a marker of the amount of adipose tissue. That is, the greater the overweight of the individual, the greater the concentration of leptin in the blood.

Thus it was shown that leptin deficiency was not the cause of obesity, since patients with obesity present, in fact, increased levels of leptin in the blood, except in genetic syndromes associated with partial or absolute primary deficiency of leptin. One of the targets of leptin is the hypothalamus, where the binding of insulin to its receptor informs about the amount of fat deposits. This information regarding the amount of adipose tissue leads to the activation of anorexigenic pathways, which decrease appetite (CRH, MSH and CART) and energy expenditure. Thus, elevated leptin serves as a signal to the hypothalamus stating that adequate energy stores exist and that we must stop food intake and increase energy expenditure and, on the other hand, inhibit the production and release of neuropeptides that increase hunger (AGRP and NPY).

The stimulus to energy expenditure is mediated by the activation or not of the thyroid hormones. What is seen in people with obesity is that leptin is increased but inefficient in promoting appetite decrease and increased caloric burn by the presence of central resistance to insulin. Several distinct compartments of adipose tissue can be identified when it occurs overweight. In women with obesity, typically, the greatest accumulation of fat is in the lower portion of the body. While men with obesity deposit fat in the upper portion of the body. This obesity in the trunk has two sites: subcutaneous and intraperitoneal (visceral).

The subcutaneous fat is the most disheartening aesthetically, but does not cause greater health problems, while abdominal fat changes the command of insulin production and metabolism sugar and an increased production of insulin by the pancreas (hyperinsulin) begins to occur. We are facing the picture known as insulin resistance in which insulin has difficulty exerting its action by an intracellular signaling problem. The greater the amount of insulin generated, the greater the effect of "keeping" the sugar inside the fat cell, in a vicious cycle where it is increasingly fattened, or on the other hand, when the pancreas depletes its ability to increase insulin production, the circulating sugar increases, walking towards diabetes. Insulin resistance is associated with genetic and environmental factors (inadequate diet, low physical activity and stress).

Obesity is still related to irregular menstrual cycles, lack of menstruation and infertility. In pregnancy it is related to the risk of gestational diabetes, hypertension, fetal malformation and complications in childbirth. Adipocytokines: leptin, adiponectin and resistin, "toxic" substances produced by fat cells influence female fertility.

Leptin has been shown to play a central role in fertility by altering the controls of the hypothalamus, influencing the release of GnRH of gonadotrophins) and consequently of LH (luteinizing hormone) and FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) as well as in embryo development.

Thus, leptin serves as an indicator of nutritional status for reproductive activity and is fundamental for development of puberty and for fertility.

Obesity also affects male fertility. Being overweight reduces the level of testosterone and increases the level of estradiol, which compromises the production of sperm. Research has already proven that overweight people have a higher rate of sperm DNA fragmentation, which leads to failures in fertilization.

Other problems that hormones excreted by fat can cause in people such as overweight or obesity are related to increased blood pressure, inhibition of the lipase-lipoprotein enzyme which favors increased cholesterol, blood coagulation changes that lead to an increase in cardio-vascular diseases and an increased risk of venous thrombosis. In addition to the increase in cancer, such as breast cancer.

In people with the right amount of fat, it produces adiponectin. It is the hormone known as metabolic protector, since it has anti-inflammatory action, inhibits the formation of fat plaques in the arteries and improves the action of insulin, protecting against diabetes. However, as the adipocyte accumulates a lot of fat, it gradually decreases the production of adiponectin and loses its benefits!

All this knowledge about fat cell counts as a motivation to treat obesity!


Locust beans: know the benefits and nutrients of this seed

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Know nine types of rice to put on the plate

Know nine types of rice to put on the plate

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(Food)