The secret life of fat cells
They are the building blocks of flab, the wages of cheesecake, the bloated little sacks of grease that make more than us - more than can fit in your pants. He was despised and scorned, they are absorbed surgically with the billions of swelling shoulders, breasts and thighs. But not without admirers. Fat cells are cells that are pleasing to the eye, said Dr. Philipp E. Scherer, associate professor of cell biology and medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. I worked with them for 10 years and still enjoy watching.On a recent afternoon at his laboratory, Scherer slipped a Petri dish of fat cells under the microscope to see how strikingly they caught the light and reflects it. Expanded was a field of bright rings. Scientists used to think that body fat was
practically inert, just an oily tray. But in the last ten years, research has shown that fat cells are chemical factories and that body fat is a powerful thing: a very active tissue, hormones and other substances secreted by deep and sometimes harmful effects on metabolism, weight and general condition.In recent years, biologists have begun calling fat an endocrine organ, compared to glands like the thyroid and pituitary, which also release hormones into the blood. However, the glands can not grow as much as fat, which has a seemingly infinite capacity to make more of itself. Excess body fat can act like a poison, spewing substances that contribute to diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, stroke and diseases, including some forms of cancer. Researchers trying to decipher
the biology of fat cells hope to find new ways to help remove excess fat or, at least, prevent obesity from destroying their health.In a world increasingly obese, their efforts have gained importance.Internationally, more than a billion people are overweight. Obesity and diseases, two, heart disease and high blood pressure, on the list of World Health Organizations of the top 10 global health risks. And the incidence
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