Number One Way To Turn BAD Fat Good Again

As you know, exercise is a very, very important aspect for your health.

It keeps you strong, flexible, and healthy.  Plus – with the added muscle mass – it may keep you fit and trim for years to come.

But, I bet you didn’t know this about exercise…

Exercise and Fat Cells

Depending on the type of exercise you do, you can burn extra calories which may lead to overall weight loss.

And, if you add in some strength training, then you may alter your muscle tissue (a good thing!), therefore allowing your body to burn even more calories at rest.  This could alter your body composition (fat vs. lean muscle mass), allowing for a stronger, leaner, and trimmer body.

But new research - that was just presented - shows that exercise may actually CHANGE the composition of your fat cells – for the BETTER!

Now, as you know, your fat cells play a larger-than-life-role in metabolism, blood sugar control, as well as countless other important tasks.

And, you may have heard, brown fat tissue may lead to extra calories burned (when activated due to shivering, etc.).

Well, now a new study shows – in both mice and humans – that exercise may lead to changes in the composition of your fat cells – therefore enabling your body to burn more calories and potentially lose more weight.

The study used 10 healthy men who performed a 12-week training program that significantly improved their VO2 max.

They showed that the training protocol significantly increased some markers of “browning” of white adipose tissue (the kind located under your skin).

This improved glucose homeostasis in the men.

Now, in order to see if these improvements were due to the changes of the fat cells from training, they took fat cells from trained and sedentary mice and transplanted the cells into a control, sedentary animal.

They discovered that mice who received the cells from “trained” mice, showed improve glucose tolerance and enhanced insulin sensitivity compared to the mice transplanted with the sedentary tissue.

And, the mice with the “trained” cells showed greater insulin-stimulated glucose uptake AND brown adipose tissue.   This suggested to the researchers that this tissue exerted endocrine effects.

Now, they also transplanted this tissue into mice fed a high-fat diet to see how the “trained” fibers would affect health.

They showed that mice with the “trained” cells showed improvements in glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity for at least 12 weeks post-transplantation. 

They concluded:

“Exercise training causes adaptations to scWAT that elicit metabolic improvements in other tissues, demonstrating a previously unrecognized role for adipose tissue in the beneficial effects of exercise on systemic glucose homeostasis.”

Get Up and Exercise More

As you know, exercise is an important part of weight loss, weight maintenance, and overall health.

With exercise, you get stronger, more flexible, and see positive changes in your cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar control.

Now, the results of this new study show that exercise may lead to “browning” of your white fat cells, therefore improving insulin sensitivity, glucose control, and possibly more calorie burn and fat loss.

So, if you’re looking to improve your health, burn some fat, or reduce your risk for chronic diseases, then you should consider adding exercise into your daily plan.

References:

Stanford KI, Middelbeek RJW, Townsend KL, Lee MY, An D, Markan KR, Hellbach K, Yfanti C, Nielsen S, Akerstrom T, Hirshman MF, Pedersen BK, Tseng YH, Goodyear LJ.  Exercise Training Alters Subcutaneous White Adipose Tissue (scWAT) in Mice and Humans.  Presented at the 73rd ADA Scientific Sessions. 2013.