Research

Hormonal

Defective lipid storage capacity in white adipose tissue, often due to impaired expansion or PLIN dysfunction, leads to ectopic fat deposition in non-adipose tissues, causing insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Your body relies on fat cells (adipose tissue) to safely store excess energy. If these cells cannot expand or function properly (due to genetics or chronic overloading), fat spills over into organs like the liver and muscles. This 'spillover' causes insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Therefore, maintaining healthy fat cell function is as important as reducing total fat mass.

StrongSupportsVERY_HIGH confidence
Impairment of both white adipose tissue (WAT) lipid storage capacity and adipose tissue expansion... results in defective lipid homeostasis in nonadipose tissues, dyslipidemia and systemic insulin resistance.
Alan R. Kimmel et al. · Annual Review of Nutrition · 2016

Why this rating

Supported by clinical observations of lipodystrophies and genetic studies.

Source

The Perilipins: Major Cytosolic Lipid Droplet–Associated Proteins and Their Roles in Cellular Lipid Storage, Mobilization, and Systemic Homeostasis

Alan R. Kimmel et al. · Annual Review of Nutrition · 2016

DOI 10.1146/annurev-nutr-071813-105410

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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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