information on fat cells?

[HealthierGuy]

I have been searching online for the last hour now and can't seem to find an answer to my question. It seems to be stated over and over again that fat cells don't die. As you become over weight(not through muscle) your body creates more fat cells because the current ones got too big and multiplied. This is the reason why big people have a naturally harder time loosing weight and why they seem to pack on more weight when they binge. In my searching I found a poster that had what I think is a good point, "None of our cells live forever".........The statement got me thinking, if fat cells don't live forever, then do they get recreated ones they die. The way I am imagining it is this way-----------> If a 300 pound over weight man has 350billion fat cells, and that same man lost 100 pounds, would that same man continue to have 350billion fat cells over the course of his life? If the whole reason for more fat cells is now gone, will they still get created after he has lost the weight?

Does anyone know how long it takes the average fat cell to die?

[sawoobley]

I have been searching online for the last hour now and can't seem to find an answer to my question. It seems to be stated over and over again that fat cells don't die. As you become over weight(not through muscle) your body creates more fat cells because the current ones got too big and multiplied. This is the reason why big people have a naturally harder time loosing weight and why they seem to pack on more weight when they binge. In my searching I found a poster that had what I think is a good point, "None of our cells live forever".........The statement got me thinking, if fat cells don't live forever, then do they get recreated ones they die. The way I am imagining it is this way-----------> If a 300 pound over weight man has 350billion fat cells, and that same man lost 100 pounds, would that same man continue to have 350billion fat cells over the course of his life? If the whole reason for more fat cells is now gone, will they still get created after he has lost the weight?

Does anyone know how long it takes the average fat cell to die?

All cells in your body eventually die. They are in a state of constant turnover meaning old ones die and new ones take their place. The question is does the number of fat cells in your body change?

Up until recently it was assumed that the number of fat cells in your body is determined early on in ones life and that the number of fat cells remains constant throughout ones life. Here are a few articles to consider.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18454136

Nature. 2008 Jun 5;453(7196):783-7. Epub 2008 May 4.
Dynamics of fat cell turnover in humans.
Spalding KL, Arner E, Westermark PO, Bernard S, Buchholz BA, Bergmann O, Blomqvist L, Hoffstedt J, Näslund E, Britton T, Concha H, Hassan M, Rydén M, Frisén J, Arner P.
Source

Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institute, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden. kirsty.spalding@ki.se
Abstract

Obesity is increasing in an epidemic manner in most countries and constitutes a public health problem by enhancing the risk for cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes. Owing to the increase in obesity, life expectancy may start to decrease in developed countries for the first time in recent history. The factors determining fat mass in adult humans are not fully understood, but increased lipid storage in already developed fat cells (adipocytes) is thought to be most important. Here we show that adipocyte number is a major determinant for the fat mass in adults. However, the number of fat cells stays constant in adulthood in lean and obese individuals, even after marked weight loss, indicating that the number of adipocytes is set during childhood and adolescence. To establish the dynamics within the stable population of adipocytes in adults, we have measured adipocyte turnover by analysing the integration of 14C derived from nuclear bomb tests in genomic DNA. Approximately 10% of fat cells are renewed annually at all adult ages and levels of body mass index. Neither adipocyte death nor generation rate is altered in early onset obesity, suggesting a tight regulation of fat cell number in this condition during adulthood. The high turnover of adipocytes establishes a new therapeutic target for pharmacological intervention in obesity.

Comments on the above article found here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...l/453169a.html (A good and easy read)


Below is an article showing data with different results. However, the sample size involved is much smaller than the above article. But they could both be right because the above article only tested fat in the abdominal area whereas this article tested upper and lower body areas and found fat hyperplasia (increase in cell number) in the lower body.

http://www.pnas.org/content/107/42/18226.full

Regional differences in cellular mechanisms of adipose tissue gain with overfeeding


-I also believe that you can see hyperplasia (an increase in the number of fat cells) in cases of extreme obesity but I don't have an article at my finger tips to demonstrate this.

[alex2363]

nice links and info here.

[HealthierGuy]

That study seems to indicate that even after weight loss that the number of fat cells stays constant, and that the creation of new fat cells keeps going even after they are no longer needed. Interesting...