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in collaboration with
Dr Christophe de Jaeger (Longevity and geriatrics)
According to a study, the fat that lodges in the buttocks, thighs, or arms of many women, could well play a protective role for the brain. Something to look at her curves differently.
What if this cellulite that you hate most of the time could have a protective role for your health and especially your brain? Do you doubt it? Yet this is the conclusion of a recently published American study on the accumulation of fat by sex and its impact on the brain. Being more likely to develop fat in certain places under the skin, such as hips, buttocks, arms, would protect women’s brains from inflammation until menopause. These inflammatory phenomena at the arterial and cerebral level increase the risk of stroke, heart attack or dementia.
Subcutaneous fat more protective than that stored in the belly
The study focused on murine subjects (mice, male and female). The researchers looked at the amount and location of fatty tissue in both male and female subjects, and linked this to the levels of sex hormones produced and brain inflammation.
According to their observations, females develop more subcutaneous fat in the areas mentioned above (hips, thighs, buttocks, etc.) while men accumulate their fat around the abdominal cavity. It’s called visceral adiposity, a fat known to be more inflammatory, and increase dementia or strokes.
Instead, producing subcutaneous fat until menopause would protect women from the risk of dementia. The study published in Diabetes further emphasizes that sex hormones are not solely responsible for the difference in cerebral risks between the sexes.
Liposuction redefines the balance of risks
Other interesting information, the researchers also studied the impact of a diet high in fat, after what is similar to liposuction to remove this subcutaneous fat, in mice. An action that was not insignificant:
“When we took subcutaneous fat out of the equation, all of a sudden the female brains started showing inflammation like male brains do, and the females gained more visceral fat.” according to Alexis M. Stranahan, study co-author and neuroscientist.
- In short, by diverting the storage location in females, inflammation resumes as in males;
- In female mice that did not have liposuction, on the other hand, these fatty changes did not occur until menopause;
- In those who did undergo liposuction but received a low-fat diet, brain inflammation was not observed.
A disparity that also exists in humans
According to Dr. Christophe de Jaeger, a French physiologist and researcher specializing in the aging of the human body, this fat distinction also exists in humans and leads to its share of inflammation.
“Visceral fat is an important risk factor at the level of the vessels but it also promotes arterial and cerebral inflammation. A problem encountered more in men than in women it is true”.
But according to him, the phenomenon is known and is based on the hormonal system. “In the human body, fat distribution is mediated in part by so-called sex steroids. So if there is a significant difference in fat location between men and women, it is due to steroid distribution. If women are protected, it is partly because they have estrogen, which men do not have” he tells us.
Thus subcutaneous fat should no longer be a source of complexes: having cellulite rather than visceral fat mass is a protection against these inflammations, and consequently against cardiovascular and cerebral risks. We can say thank you to the orange peel!