Hormonal
Adipose tissue serves as a protective reservoir for persistent organic pollutants (POPs), reducing their burden on critical organs like the brain and liver, provided insulin resistance and uncontrolled lipolysis are absent.
In modern society, where environmental toxins are ubiquitous, having some adipose tissue may offer a protective buffer against these chemicals reaching vital organs. However, this protection is lost if you have insulin resistance or undergo rapid weight loss, which releases these toxins. Therefore, maintaining metabolic health (insulin sensitivity) is crucial to keeping this protective sequestration effective.
Therefore, the storage of POPs in adipose tissue can reduce their burden on other critical organs.
Why this rating
Based on animal models and observational human studies; mechanistic plausibility is high but direct causal proof in humans is observational.
Source
Persistent organic pollutants in adipose tissue should be considered in obesity research
Yu‐Mi Lee et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2016
DOI 10.1111/obr.12481
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