Research
Hormonal
Macrophage polarization from anti-inflammatory M2 to pro-inflammatory M1 phenotypes in adipose tissue is a key driver of insulin resistance, driven by the sensing of metabolic danger signals (DAMPs) like free fatty acids and uric acid.
The type of immune cells in your fat matters. In obesity, fat tissue fills with pro-inflammatory M1 macrophages that release chemicals blocking insulin action. Weight loss can help restore these cells to a healthier, anti-inflammatory state, but this process may take time and requires sustained weight stability.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Obesity and insulin resistance have the capacity to skew immune cells from anti-inflammatory subtypes toward more proinflammatory subtypes. This includes a switching of macrophage polarization from M2-like cells to more proinflammatory M1-like cells... These metabolic DAMPs are capable of causing activation of macrophages and initiating adipose tissue inflammation.
Why this rating
Supported by multiple rodent and human studies cited in the review.
Source
Adipose tissue as an immunological organ
Ryan W. Grant et al. · Obesity · 2015
DOI 10.1002/oby.21003
narrative_reviewCited 439×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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