How Your Health is Affected by Brown and White Fat

Body fat is far more complex than most people realize. Most people understand that body fat is intended for the storage of calories.

They also know that it keeps us warm and that too much body fat is unhealthy. Other than that, most people draw a blank regarding the importance of Body Fat. The last decade of research has brought about tremendous gains in knowledge regarding the various functions and purposes of body fat.

What Is Fat?

Scientists refer to body fat as adipose tissue. Individual fat cells are called adipocytes. Researchers have had several breakthroughs in understanding how fat works in recent years. Around 1990, fat was understood to be a means to store calories. It's taken over a generation of research to truly show an appreciation of what fat does for the human body.

Fatty tissue is highly differentiated, with different fat types and other cells carrying various functions. This tissue is essential to blood sugar control and immunity, among several other critical tasks. Fat is commonly divided into two categories—subcutaneous fat and visceral fat. Subcutaneous fat is the layer of fat just underneath the skin.

Visceral fat covers and protects vital organs and is internal. Furthermore, adipose tissue can also be divided into brown fat and white fat, and there are also nerve endings, blood vessels, fibroblasts, and immune cells within adipose tissue.

White Fat vs. Brown Fat

Two essential types of fat that scientists are learning a lot about these days are white fat and brown fat. White fat performs the function most people think about when they think about fat. The primary purpose of white fat is to take calories and convert them into triglycerides for storage. Brown fat, on the other hand, consumes calories to keep us warm. Brown adipose fat takes triglycerides and glucose and converts them into heat energy.

Learning More about Brown and White Fat

The human body is comprised of significantly more white fat than brown fat. White fat is critical to Hormone Balance and reproductive function. It is capable of converting Testosterone into Estrogen. This is one of the dangers of obesity for men.

Excess fat leads to lower Testosterone and too much Estrogen. Too much adipose fat contributes to chronic inflammation, fatty liver disease, hypertension, and insulin resistance.

We have the highest proportion of brown fat at birth. Brown fat produces heat which protects the health of the child. Brown fat proportion declines as we age and is primarily found in the abdomen, the upper back, the shoulders, and the neck.

Research shows that brown fat is beneficial to metabolism. Activating brown fat has many benefits and can help ward off obesity and maintain leaner body mass.

One of the big debates right now is whether it's possible to convert white fat into brown fat (or brown into white). This process is known as transdifferentiation. Scientists have discovered beige cells which can change and adapt to circumstances, taking on the characteristics of brown fat or white fat as needed.

Body Fat and Obesity

Furthermore, we're not stuck with our original fat cells. They burn out and rotate. White fat can overdose on triglycerides which shorten their life cycle. A person's ability to gain and lose weight is related to caloric intake and how readily their fat white cells can store or burn calories. Though we know that white adipose cells live for around fifteen years, we don't yet understand the life cycle of brown fat.

There is a wide range of factors that contribute to obesity. The risk of obesity has a significant genetic factor, but lifestyle plays a central role. Our bodies produce various hormones to control and modulate hunger and body fat, including Leptin, Ghrelin, Human Growth Hormone, Insulin, and more.

Insulin transports glucose for storage, and research shows that HGH helps unlock the energy stored in calories when not relying directly on food for energy.

It's common for some people to gain weight when they take certain antidepressants or birth control. Individual physiology impacts patients differently.

Studies Explore Benefits of Brown Fat Activation

While the proliferation of fat white cells can lead to various health risks and dangers, growing evidence is that increasing brown fat volume can benefit health. Activated brown fat has been shown to lead to improved cholesterol, lower blood sugar, and less insulin resistance.

People with more brown fat are less prone to cardiovascular disease and are less likely to suffer from hypertension. If these studies continue to show success, we may be able to manipulate Brown Fat to improve blood pressure, balance cholesterol, and treat inflammation.

Contact us for a FREE, no-obligation discussion about the benefits of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) Replacement Therapy.

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