Fat Cell Death: Broscience or Science?

Iwishyouwell

The common line of thought is that fat cells shrink, but are never truly eliminated.

However I've read within fitness and weight lifting circles that getting your body fat percentage down to very lean proportions, as in 10% or less for men, and staying there for a couple years actually eventually leads to adipose cell death, and that the major roadblock for the once fat and obese is that very few of us actually achieve very low body fat percentages, and if we do, we rarely maintain it long term. Some have suggested studies exist to back up this notion.

Science or broscience?

miketoryan

i think basically any cell in your body can die, so logically even fat cells can die. they might be hard to kill off, and it might not be the mechanism that weight lifting circles insist is the cause, but yeah, you hit a fat cell with a direct beam of radiation and that will die (among other ways)

mccindy72

broscience. fat cells stay, they just shrink. The anorexic who undergo treatment after years of cyclically being underweight at very low body fat regain body fat. Those cells that shrunk refill with adipose tissue once adequate nutrition is provided.

ninerbuff

Iwishyouwell wrote: »

The common line of thought is that fat cells shrink, but are never truly eliminated.

However I've read within fitness and weight lifting circles that getting your body fat percentage down to very lean proportions, as in 10% or less for men, and staying there for a couple years actually eventually leads to adipose cell death, and that the major roadblock for the once fat and obese is that very few of us actually achieve very low body fat percentages, and if we do, we rarely maintain it long term. Some have suggested studies exist to back up this notion.

Science or broscience?

Broscience. Like others cells in the body, reproduction/replication is what the body is efficient at.
If someone is staying at 10% body fat, it's ONLY because they aren't surplusing their calorie needs.

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miketoryan

probably the strangest thing i've read about (fat cells wise) is that if you get liposuction and they lipo out the fat cells in some area, when you eat the same amount of fat (or any energy you end up storing) as before rather than it spreading more evenly i your body, you end up getting all the fat in certain areas.

that's what happens when you lose fat cells. the ones you still have just get fatter than they would have when you had a higher number of cells.

ninerbuff

miketoryan wrote: »

probably the strangest thing i've read about (fat cells wise) is that if you get liposuction and they lipo out the fat cells in some area, when you eat the same amount of fat (or any energy you end up storing) as before rather than it spreading more evenly i your body, you end up getting all the fat in certain areas.

that's what happens when you lose fat cells. the ones you still have just get fatter than they would have when you had a higher number of cells.

Not the same as "dying". Removal of cells by surgery is just that. Also, exceeding body fat consistently encourages the body to generate new fat cells.

http://news.sciencemag.org/2008/05/and-fat-goes

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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

mccindy72

Also, the body's fat cells have an unlimited capacity for storing fat - especially the cells of the abdomen, as we've seen in recent years.

Iwishyouwell

Just what I thought.

But appreciate the responses.

emdeesea

Speaking from an evolutionary standpoint, I can't see that that would be compatible with life.

I mean, if our cavemen ancestors didn't eat for days and days, they'd be pretty lean. But the minute food came long, they'd gorge to fill up those fat cells for future days of scarcity.

Those fat cells are like a bank account. It may be empty for a long time, but it's still there.

ninerbuff

emdeesea wrote: »

Speaking from an evolutionary standpoint, I can't see that that would be compatible with life.

I mean, if our cavemen ancestors didn't eat for days and days, they'd be pretty lean. But the minute food came long, they'd gorge to fill up those fat cells for future days of scarcity.

Those fat cells are like a bank account. It may be empty for a long time, but it's still there.

Correct. Unfortunately unlike a bank account, fat cells don't like to give up what they've accumulated. Trying to empty them out takes way more effort than filling them up. I wish same were true with bank accounts.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Iwishyouwell

emdeesea wrote: »

Speaking from an evolutionary standpoint, I can't see that that would be compatible with life.

I mean, if our cavemen ancestors didn't eat for days and days, they'd be pretty lean. But the minute food came long, they'd gorge to fill up those fat cells for future days of scarcity.

Those fat cells are like a bank account. It may be empty for a long time, but it's still there.

That's because I wasn't clear in my OP.

The debate isn't about the fat cells you'd normally have if you'd never become obese.

It's about the additional fat cells created to accommodate expanding obesity. Those are the ones opined that could be experience cellular death, in the event that the body recognized that they were utterly redundant in the face of long term leanness. A sort of clean slate, if I'd never been fat deal. At least that's the view I've seen discussed and debated.

WalkingAlong

There is evidence they die and are replaced.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/health/research/05fat.html
Every year, whether you are fat or thin, whether you lose weight or gain, 10 percent of your fat cells die. And every year, those cells that die are replaced with new fat cells, researchers in Sweden reported Sunday.

The_Enginerd

I remember seeing information that over a long period of time (we're talking a decade or more here), you would gradually see a decrease in fat cells that are no longer needed due to natural cell death and turnover within the body. However, the studies I just found through a quick Google search seems to indicate the opposite; they are replaced at the same rate they die and the amount does not change.

I'll see if I can track down that old information.

WalkingAlong

herrspoons wrote: »

WalkingAlong wrote: »

There is evidence they die and are replaced.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/health/research/05fat.html
Every year, whether you are fat or thin, whether you lose weight or gain, 10 percent of your fat cells die. And every year, those cells that die are replaced with new fat cells, researchers in Sweden reported Sunday.

Every cell dies and is replaced. Why would fat cells be different?

Ask the Swedes who spent the time and money researching it.

Not every cell type dies and is replaced. Females are born with the only egg cells they'll ever have. I think nerve cells don't get replaced.

ana3067

they just go home

Yanicka1

ana3067 wrote: »

they just go home

Cutest fat cells ever

WalkingAlong

If you believe that the more overweight you've been, the more fat cells your body has created and the more your body will try to replenish those now smaller cells, it matters a lot. But I feel like a body is going to store it in a new cell or an old one, and to me it's all the same-- more fat. I'm more concerned with avoiding visceral fat than how many cells it's in.