Research
Macro partitioning
Lipodystrophy (loss of adipose tissue) causes the same metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance as obesity, proving that adipose tissue is essential for metabolic health.
Do not aim for extremely low body fat levels. Your body needs adipose tissue to store energy safely. If you lose too much fat, it can lead to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, similar to obesity. Maintain a healthy amount of fat, particularly subcutaneous fat, to support metabolic health.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
The effects of absence of adipose tissue on metabolism are strikingly similar to those found in individuals with an excess of adipose tissue, i.e., severe insulin resistance, hypertriglyceridemia, hepatic steatosis, and metabolic syndrome
Why this rating
Supported by clinical evidence from lipodystrophy patients and mouse models.
Source
Altered adipose tissue and adipocyte function in the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome
C. Ronald Kahn et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2019
DOI 10.1172/jci129187
narrative_reviewCited 661×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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