Adipose (Fat) Tissue Benefits and Risks

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Adipose tissue, also known as fat tissue, cushions the body and protects internal organs. Fat tissue stores unused calories from food until your body needs it for energy. It also produces and releases leptin, a hormone that prevents you from feeling hungry until your body needs to get more energy from food.

Adipose tissue can be found under the skin (subcutaneous adipose tissue) or around the organs (visceral adipose tissue). While having adipose tissue is good, having too much—or too little—adipose tissue is not. People with excess adipose tissue have obesity and are more likely to develop heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and more.

This article explores the types and functions of adipose tissue, along with the health conditions that can result from having too much or too little of it.

Midsection Of Woman Holding Belly Fat
RUNSTUDIO / Getty Images

Types of Adipose Tissue

There are three different types of adipose tissue in your body. Each kind of adipose tissue works differently:

  • White adipose tissue is the most abundant adipose tissue in the body. White fat stores calories, providing your body with energy. It is generally found around the hips, thighs, belly, or buttocks. Excess white fat contributes to obesity.
  • Brown adipose tissue hasthermogenic properties, meaning that it burns fat to produce heat. A small amount of fat in your body is brown adipose tissue. It is generally found around the neck, kidneys, adrenal glands, heart, and chest.
  • Beige adipose tissue is white adipose tissue that can develop brown adipose characteristics, and vice versa, depending on diet and temperature.

Beige fat is particularly intriguing for researchers, many of whom believe that it may hold the key to fighting obesity and diabetes.

Benefits of Adipose Tissue

Even though some people would like to reduce the amount of adipose tissue that they carry, adipose tissue is important for a healthy body. For example, fatty tissue provides:

  • Insulation: Adipose tissue helps to insulate your body. This heat insulation keeps your body warm when you are exposed to cold temperatures.
  • Protection: Adipose tissue cushions and protects your organs, bones, and other tissues from damage.
  • Immunity: Adipose tissue hosts immune cells that help regulate local and systemic (full body) immune responses to infection.
  • Energy storage: Your body stores unused calories in adipose tissue. When you are fasting, dieting, or unable to eat, your body releases the stored energy to maintain all of its important functions. 
  • Hormone production: Several important hormones, including leptin, are produced and released by your adipose tissue. Leptin is a hormone that sends signals to stop eating.
  • Hunger and satiety: Adipose tissue produces and releases the hormone leptin, which prevents you from feeling hungry until your body gets low on energy.
  • Glucose control: Adipose tissue is essential for maintaining stable blood sugar levels. As blood sugar levels rise, the pancreas produces insulin, which signals adipose tissue cells to absorb blood sugar for energy or storage.

Disorders Related to Excess Adipose Tissue

Excess adipose tissue is the medical term for obesity. If you have excess adipose tissue, you have a higher risk of developing:

  • Type 2 diabetes: Excess adipose tissue promotes inflammation, elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and insulin resistance, all of which contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes.
  • Cardiovascular disease: Excess adipose tissue around your heart and other internal organs, known as visceral adipose tissue (VAT), significantly increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and other manifestations of cardiovascular disease.
  • Fatty liver disease: Fatty liver disease is almost always caused by either obesity or alcohol abuse. Excess fat in the liver strangles healthy liver cells and weakens liver function. Over time, the liver can develop severe inflammation and scarring, and may eventually fail.
  • Cancers: About 4% to 8% of all cancers are caused by obesity. Excess adipose tissue is linked to at least 13 different cancers, including breast, colorectal, kidney, uterine, and liver cancers. It also increases the risk of dying from cancer.
  • Metabolic syndrome: Excess adipose tissue, especially in the abdominal area, is associated with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that includes high blood sugar, low HDL ("good") cholesterol, high triglycerides, and high blood pressure.
  • Dysfunctional hunger: Excess adipose tissue creates alterations in leptin production and release, leading to increased feelings of hunger that are more difficult to satisfy with food.

Excess visceral adipose tissue, particularly around the abdominal organs, is associated with a higher risk of death due to any cause.

In fact, according to a study of 3.6 million adults in the UK, life expectancy after age 40 was about four years shorter in people with obesity, compared to people with a healthy BMI.

Conditions Related to Too Little Adipose Tissue

Having too little adipose tissue is a rare condition known as lipodystrophy, which can result from genetic causes, or acquired causes like HIV infection, some autoimmune disorders, and the use of certain medications.

With lipodystrophy, the body improperly stores fat in skeletal muscles and the liver—places that normally hold relatively small amounts of fat.

People with too little adipose tissue can face similar issues to those with excess adipose tissue, including:

  • Insulin resistance
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • High triglycerides
  • Fatty liver disease

Having a lipodystrophy syndrome does not always mean you have zero body fat. Many forms of lipodystrophy cause body fat to be abnormally distributed.

For example, a person with lipodystrophy may lack adipose tissue in the upper body but have increased adipose tissue in the lower body. Some people with lipodystrophy may have droopy skin in the cheeks, large ears, or a complete lack of fat in the limbs but nowhere else.

Adipose tissue by itself is not a bad thing. Your body needs adipose tissue to regulate many important bodily functions. It's when you have too much adipose tissue, too little adipose tissue, or abnormally distributed adipose tissue that problems occur.

Summary

Adipose tissue, which you probably know as body fat, is involved in numerous body processes. Adipose tissue cushions and protects your internal organs, stores unused calories for energy, and is involved in hormone production. People with obesity have excess adipose tissue. Although rare, it's also possible to have too little adipose tissue. Both conditions increase the risk of numerous health problems, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and fatty liver disease due to the abnormal distribution of body fat.

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Additional Reading
  • Cypess AM, Kahn CR. The role and importance of brown adipose tissue in energy homeostasis. Current Opinion in Pediatrics August 2010.

  • Trayhurn P1, Beattie JH. Physiological role of adipose tissue: white adipose tissue as an endocrine and secretory organ. The Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. August 2001.

By Jennifer R. Scott
Jennifer R. Scott is a weight loss writer. She designed her own successful weight loss plan, which helped her safely lose 50 pounds in about a year.