Obesity Treated by Controlling Adipose Tissue

The amount of adipose tissue should be a key target in the fight against obesity besides the BMI, since it is linked to blood pressure, claims a thesis by a biologist.

According to Aline Jelenkovic at the University of the Basque Country, the characteristics or phenotypes defining the height, the shape and the adipose tissue of the human body are hereditary at a rate that goes from moderate to high.

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Obesity is a condition where there is excess accumulation of body fat which poses a risk to the health of the individual. It can affect children and adults.

The environment also plays a relevant role.

In the case of the phenotypes that determine adipose tissue, the hereditary factor is less and the environmental one gains importance.

Jelenkovic also writes that the general increase in body mass observed amongst this sample can be understood on the basis of the increase in adipose tissue (the phenotypes that determine body mass are closely linked to those determining the amount of fat).

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Experts have announced the identification of a signaling pathway that is operational in intra-abdominal fat, the fat depot that is most strongly tied to obesity-related morbidity.

And therefore, controlling the amount of adipose tissue, and not only total body mass, is key in the fight against obesity.

The thesis also explains the link between corporal morphology and the family, considering it be a significant factor, but not especially influential; for example, siblings share more environmental factors that influence their corporal morphology than parents and children.

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Scientists have brought some good news for the obese, that brown adipose tissue is capable of burning fat.

Even socioeconomic factor is not very significant, but greater economic status also means being taller and having less adipose tissue. Moreover, socioeconomic status has more influence on phenotypes related to adipose tissue than to body mass.

The thesis is titled 'Body morphology, obesity and blood pressure in nuclear families from the Greater Bilbao area: genetic and environmental influences'.

Source-ANI