Body fat is generally regarded as harmful to health. Many people think that the less fat there is, the healthier the body will be.
While it is true that excess fat is responsible for being overweight, heart disease and type-2 diabetes, recent research has shown that not all fat is harmful. On the contrary, certain good or functional fat tissue in the body is extremely necessary for staying healthy.
A new study by researchers at the University of Michigan in the United States has found that when this “beneficial” fat is lost from the body, the risk of diabetes can rise without one realising it. The study suggests that diabetes is not caused only by excess fat; the disease can also strike when beneficial fat tissue is damaged or disappears because of an illness.
Why good fat is essential for the body
The fat tissue (adipose tissue) in our body does not merely store excess calories; it works like an active organ. It plays an important role in controlling blood sugar levels, secreting hormones and reducing inflammation. Good fat cells safely store the excess fat that comes from food. As a result, harmful fat cannot build up in important organs such as the liver, muscles or pancreas, and the body responds properly to insulin.
What happens when healthy fat is lost
The researchers studied a rare genetic disorder called “familial partial lipodystrophy type 2.” In people with this disease, good fat gradually disappears from the body. As a result, despite not being obese or overweight, they suffer from diabetes, fatty liver and excess fatty substances in the blood.
Examining the fat tissue of patients, scientists found that the fat cells begin to be damaged and to malfunction long before they disappear.
Three stages of fat cell destruction
The study found that three main causes lie behind the destruction of fat cells:
1. Inability to store fat: the fat cells gradually lose their normal capacity to store fat.
2. Inflammation: inflammation develops within the fat tissue, and immune cells become overactive, further damaging the fat cells.
3. Mitochondrial dysfunction: the “mitochondria,” the energy-producing centres of the cell, stop working. As a result, for lack of energy, the fat cells shrivel and disappear.
How this pushes towards diabetes
When healthy fat cells are destroyed, fat can no longer be stored safely. It then begins to accumulate in the liver and muscles, obstructing the normal work of insulin. As a result, glucose cannot enter the cells from the blood.
In addition, as the hormones secreted by beneficial fat tissue decline, the risk of insulin resistance, type-2 diabetes and fatty liver rises many times over — even if the person is not physically fat. Until now it was thought that diabetes was caused mainly by obesity and problems with the beta cells of the pancreas. But this study has proved that the quality and function of good fat cells are equally important in preventing diabetes.
Is losing weight risky, then?
No, losing weight in a healthy way is not at all harmful. For overweight people, shedding excess fat through a balanced diet, regular exercise and adequate sleep is still the best way to prevent diabetes and heart disease.
The main message of the research is to prevent the damage to fat cells caused by disease or genetic problems — not to discourage the ordinary, healthy process of losing weight.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report