Empowered Health Course · Lesson 11 · 3:05
If you don't mind taking a deeper dive with me into the fat cell — what happens in it during health and during metabolic disease. At the top we have a "pear." This relates to people with pear-shaped bodies who store fat in the buttocks and legs rather than the midsection. Those fat cells tend to be healthy: not overfilled, not inflamed, able to take up and release fat energy without much problem. They respond well to a hormone called insulin, and blood sugar, blood pressure, and triglycerides tend to be normal.
At the bottom is more of an "apple" distribution — carrying weight in the midsection. This is why measuring waist circumference can help, and why it matters in certain ethnicities where the suitcase doesn't expand far. There, the fat cells become inflamed. Those little blue cells are immune cells causing inflammation — we call the signals cytokines. The inflammation is like a storm; the cells aren't happy, and fat goes elsewhere.
That's why I draw that fat cell smoking a cigarette — it's an unhealthy fat cell. We call it "sick fat." Clinicians even have a hard time saying the medical term: adiposopathy — adipose meaning fat, -pathy meaning disease. The fat cells themselves are diseased. That's not under your control. But reducing body weight — through lifestyle, medical therapy, and so on — helps create more expandability in the healthy fat cells, so they can store energy well and protect the body from the diseased fat. Part of the goal is to recognize this situation, know how to treat it, and help you move through the treatment options.
This transcript has been lightly edited from the video for readability. For the complete experience, please watch the video above.