Not sure if this is clear. Our bodies are supposed to replace all the cells every 7 or so years. Does that mean the fat too? Or when someone loses 20 year weight, are you getting rid of 20 year old fat?
The Tummy of Theseus
When a person gains weight and keeps the weight on for a long time, is that old fat in your body, or does the fat get replaced over time?
Submitted 9 hours ago by pelespirit@sh.itjust.works to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
Comments
gedaliyah@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
The number of fat cells don’t really change in your body. The individual cells grow and shrink.
ramble81@lemmy.zip 8 hours ago
So then I’m curious what happens with liposuction as the fat cells are literally removed. Does your body create more, or no longer store fat, or does it get stored somewhere else?
9point6@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
This is a very good question that I’m now curious about
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 8 hours ago
It kind of says something different though. It says the amount remains stable, but they’re dying and replacing themselves. It’s quick in fat people and takes longer in lean people.
It has been generally believed that adult humans cannot create new fat cells. We have thought, until now, that fat cells only and simply increase their fat mass by adding more lipids into fat cells that already exist in order to settle their body weight – this is true, but that is not the end of the story. Research lead by Kirsty Spalding, Jonas Frisén and Peter Arner has recently shown that adult humans constantly produce new fat cells regardless of their body weight status, sex or age.
Peter Arner, Professor, Department of Medicine, Huddinge, said “The total number of fat cells in the body is stable overtime, because the making of new fat cells is counterbalanced by an equally rapid break down of the already existing fat cells due to cell death.”
idiomaddict@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
From your body’s perspective, fat is insurance. Our bodies aren’t used to excess, so we’re built to accumulate fat whenever we can.
zlatiah@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
From what I remember from nutrition science research… our body fat are literally living, breathing cells. As in, fat cells which specialize into fat storage, which can grow/shrink, and are in fact very metabolically active. So not only do they get replaced over time, they are biologically quite relevant and probably more “active” than, say, the nearby muscle cells
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
Wow, this is something that hasn’t been said. I wonder if this is still current.
An average human adult has 30 billion fat cells with a weight of 30 lbs or 13.5 kg. If a child or adolescent gains sufficient excess weight, fat cells may increase in absolute number until age twenty-four.[3] If an adult (who never was obese as a child or adolescent) gains excess weight, fat cells generally increase in size, not number, though there is some inconclusive evidence suggesting that the number of fat cells might also increase if the existing fat cells become large enough (as in particularly severe levels of obesity).
mushroommunk@lemmy.today 8 hours ago
The 7 year thing is a myth. Howtown has a very good summary on it. 7 year myth some cells are replaced but how often depends on the cell type, some never get replaced.
When you gain weight your fat cells grow, and when you lose weight they shrink. You don’t actually gain and lose fat cells the way people think. However, the stuff in those cells could very well be old. It’s a complex system and hard to sum up and I’m only friends with the biology people from college but that’s what I understand from them.
TheRealKuni@piefed.social 5 hours ago
But as my doctor explained to me, if they get big enough, they divide. Then even if you lose weight, you have fat cells hanging around who think they should be holding onto more fat than they are. So your body will want to be fat, and will enforce that with cravings.
It’s why it’s extremely hard to lose a large amount of weight and leave it off. I’m on my third major attempt now.
dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 5 hours ago
Seems like that would be an argument for liposuction as a way to supplement other weight loss because it would remove those cells.
LavaPlanet@sh.itjust.works 4 hours ago
I’ve heard similar, that your body wants to keep the “norm” whatever that is. And it makes sense that any extreme weight loss, would seem, to your body, that there is a famine or something is wrong and then reset the balance back to what it was, as soon as it can.
DaddleDew@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
That opens the door to new insults such as “You so fat your fat cells are the size of grapes”
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 8 hours ago
So, losing weight, is like taking a long needed shower for your cells.
mushroommunk@lemmy.today 8 hours ago
Kind of? The cells, called adipocytes, primarily store triglycerides and a few other things in a liquid form. When you lose weight that liquid gets squeezed out and used as energy, to build other chemicals your body needs, or peed straight out.
So less a shower and more getting rung out like a sponge.