Hormonal
Adipose tissue acts as an endocrine organ, secreting hormones that influence insulin sensitivity in distant tissues.
Fat tissue is not just storage; it actively sends hormonal signals to your liver, muscles, and brain that affect how you process glucose and fat. Changes in fat mass and function can alter these hormonal signals, impacting your metabolic health.
Adipose tissue secretes a variety of endocrine hormones, such as leptin, interleukin-6, angiotensin II, adiponectin... and resistin. From this viewpoint, adipose tissue plays a critical role as an endocrine gland, secreting numerous factors with potent effects on the metabolism of distant tissues.
Why this rating
Supported by the identification of multiple adipokines and their known effects on metabolism.
Source
Increased Fat Intake, Impaired Fat Oxidation, and Failure of Fat Cell Proliferation Result in Ectopic Fat Storage, Insulin Resistance, and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Éric Ravussin et al. · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2002
DOI 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2002.tb04292.x
More from this paper
- Failure of adipose tissue to expand via new fat cell formation (proliferation/differentiation) forces excess lipid into ectopic sites (liver, skeletal muscle, pancreas), causing insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.Good
- Impaired fat oxidation capacity in skeletal muscle contributes to intramyocellular lipid accumulation and insulin resistance.Good
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