Research

Energy balance

Chronic low-grade inflammation in obesity serves a beneficial physiological function by increasing energy expenditure and promoting adipose tissue remodeling, thereby limiting adiposity and improving glucose homeostasis.

Do not assume that suppressing all inflammation is beneficial for weight management. In obesity, inflammatory processes help regulate energy expenditure and tissue health. Suppressing these signals (e.g., via certain anti-inflammatory drugs) may inadvertently reduce energy expenditure and promote weight gain, potentially worsening metabolic outcomes.

ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
A growing body of evidence suggests that macrophages and proinflammatory cytokines are essential for adipose remodeling and adipocyte differentiation. Phenotypes of multiple lines of transgenic mice consistently suggest that proinflammatory cytokines increase energy expenditure and act to prevent obesity.
Jianping Ye et al. · American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism · 2012

Why this rating

Evidence is derived from multiple transgenic mouse models and human observational data, but lacks direct human interventional trials confirming causality in healthy populations.

Source

Inflammation during obesity is not all bad: evidence from animal and human studies

Jianping Ye et al. · American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism · 2012

DOI 10.1152/ajpendo.00266.2012

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

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