Research
Hormonal
Elevated TNF-alpha expression in adipose tissue is associated with obesity and insulin resistance in humans, acting as a modulator of gene expression in adipocytes.
Obesity is associated with higher levels of TNF-alpha in fat tissue, which can worsen insulin resistance. This biological reality suggests that weight management may require addressing these underlying metabolic factors, not just calorie restriction.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
In the fa rat, in vivo neutralization by a soluble TNF-a receptor results in decreased insulin resistance... the levels of TNF-a mRNA and protein in the adipose tissue of obese human subjects were found to be 2.5 times higher than the levels in lean controls and highly correlated with fasting insulin concentration.
Why this rating
Cites multiple studies showing elevated TNF-alpha in obese humans and its correlation with insulin resistance.
Source
Linkage between obesity and a marker near the tumor necrosis factor-alpha locus in Pima Indians.
Rachel Norman et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 1995
DOI 10.1172/jci118016
cohort · n=764Cited 129×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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