THE PHYSIOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR OF FAT CELLS

Not all fat cells in the body are the same. Depending on where they are located they exhibit different physiological properties in response to extra calorie consumption and calorie restriction. When fat cells expand, their lipid droplets that store fat in the form of triglycerides cause the fat cells to under hypertrophy. However, when fat cells multiply it is known as hyperplasia. Individuals who hold more subcutaneous fat in their abdominal region, chest and other parts of the upper body have what is known as android obesity, while those that have more susceptible to fat storage in their lower body, including hips and thighs exhibit gynoid obesity.

The cells also behave differently, upper body cells expand much more than lower body cells, have a much powerful capacity to store body fat. Therefore, they show mainly hypertrophy characteristics. Lower body cells multiply much more rapidly than upper body cells, due to poorer storage abilities. Lower body fat cells in the thighs and hips produce larger quantities of adipocyotkines, which are chemical messengers fat cells use to communicate with other tissues and organs around the body, including the brain. These chemical messengers also activate the multiplication of new fat cells to be able to deal with the extra fat storage. Upper body cells also do this, but only after prolonged periods of overweight stress on the body but not to the same extent.

This causes a problem for females that undergo yo-yo dieting, as well as individuals who diet extensively for competitions, who are prone to lower body fat accumulation and then resume a higher calorie diet. In females, these lower body fats cells show special receptors on their cell membranes that makes them very resistent to releasing that fat back out to be broken down for energy, and more and more fat cells leads to area of very stubborn areas of fat. While lower body fat is far less dangerous than upper body fat in regards to health, it’s ability to multiply rapidly makes it very difficult to remove without proper training and dieting.