Summary

Regular exercise throughout life can maintain fat tissue function, reducing the risk of age-related diseases such as Type Two Diabetes, Cancer, and obesity.

Abstract

The article emphasizes the importance of lifelong exercise in preserving the functionality of fat tissue, which is crucial for overall health as we age. It discusses a study from the University of Copenhagen that reveals how fat tissue's role extends beyond energy storage to being an active organ influencing metabolic health. The study shows that even with age, high levels of exercise can keep fat cells functioning efficiently, which is vital for the body's energy balance and the prevention of various diseases. The mitochondria within fat cells are likened to power plants that convert food to energy, and their efficiency is maintained through consistent physical activity. This maintenance is key to managing waste products like Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), which are linked to several chronic diseases. The article concludes by encouraging readers to incorporate exercise into their lives, suggesting that it's never too late to start reaping the benefits of an active lifestyle.

Opinions

The author believes that the role of fat tissue in human health is underestimated and that its function is as important as its quantity.
Exercise is seen as a powerful tool to counteract the natural decline in fat tissue function that comes with age.
The author suggests that maintaining an active lifestyle can significantly reduce the risk of developing age-related diseases.
There is an opinion that the societal perception of fat needs to shift from purely a storage issue to understanding its role as an active metabolic organ.
The author is optimistic that future research will provide more insights into the benefits of exercise and encourage more people to be active.
The author personally endorses weight training as a beneficial form of exercise for maintaining body shape and mental health.

Stay Lean & Eliminate Disease as You Age by Doing One Thing

Fat is beneficial but needs the training to function correctly

The key is to be active throughout your life. Image purchased from Freepik.

Most of our life is spent trying to get rid of excess body fat.

You can’t blame the individual because we all know how dangerous visceral fat is. Visceral fat is quite sneaky because you won’t necessarily see it.

It’s hidden beneath layers of tissue and muscle.

Skinny people can have excessive visceral fat stores and yet not know until perhaps they become diagnosed with a disease.

Interestingly, a University of Copenhagen study stipulates that fat tissue plays a vital role in human health.

As we age, fat tissue loses its function, which leads us into the arms of Type Two Diabetes, Cancer and other ailments.

The good news is (as I expected) lifelong exercise seems to counteract the deterioration of fat.

Researchers at the University Of Copenhagen studied the link between ageing, exercise and fat tissue function in Danish Men.

Imagine being asked how well your fat functions!

Not something you will be asked during your lifetime — but it’s an important question.

Research in recent years suggests that the functioning of fat tissue, or in technical terms adipose tissue, is an essential indicator of why our bodies decay with age and how it’s linked to type two diabetes, cancer and obesity development.

Fat cells actually change their function as we get older.

Health isn’t just influenced by the amount of body fat we have, rather how well that tissue functions as we get older.

The study demonstrates that even though our fat tissue loses its function with age, high volumes of exercise can significantly impact its efficiency.

Our overall health is closely linked to how well fat tissue functions.

For years, fat was thought to be an energy depot, but it’s an organ that interacts with other organs and can help to optimise your metabolic function.

Fat tissue releases substances that affect our muscle and brain metabolism when we feel hungry.

So, fat tissue needs to work the way it’s supposed to.

Fat cells get worse as we age — but we can combat this

Tiny mitochondria (known as power plants) help convert calories from food to supply cells with energy.

To maintain the life processes within cells, they need to function optimally.

Researchers compared different mitochondria performances across young and older untrained, moderately trained and highly trained Danish men.

The results demonstrated that the mitochondria’s ability to produce energy decreased with age, regardless of how much exercise a person does.

However, although the efficiency of mitochondria decreases with age, we can see that high levels of lifelong exercise exert a potent compensatory effect.

For example, a group of trained older men in the study had fat cells that could respire more than twice as much as in untrained more senior men.

Mitochondria is like a car engine — converting chemicals to usable energy.

Mitochondria waste comes in the form of oxygen free radicals, knowns as Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS).

ROS not eliminated by cells can lead to a wide range of diseases like cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease — even Alzheimers. Therefore, it’s essential to regulate ROS.

Those men in the research group who trained more formed less of this ROS and maintained the functionality to eliminate it.

In addition, their mitochondria were better at managing waste produced in the cells.

Key take away

It’s easy to see here that training throughout your lifetime helps eliminate waste from the cells and keeps your body fat functioning optimally while keeping your risk of developing diseases relatively low.

Older participants who exercised most of their life have more mitochondria, giving them the ability to release more of the fat-related hormones necessary for the body’s energy balance.

You don’t even need to do a high activity every day to increase your mitochondria efficiency and keep disease at bay.

What you shouldn’t do is nothing at all.

Researchers are still left to assess where the cellular damage occurs in people who do not exercise and its impact on their bodies over time.

I believe the next body of research will be very interesting and perhaps encourage more people to start being active throughout their lives.

In saying that, It’s never too late to begin our journey towards better health.

You can start today by walking that little bit extra every day and building yourself up slowly by increasing your time and distance.

I also recommend weight training. It’s never let me down.

It’s helped me maintain my shape and mental health throughout my 20s and into my 40s.

I hope this inspires you to get out there and start being active.

Many people wait until they are older to suffer the consequences of being inactive.

Start today and train your fat cells to eliminate waste and keep that fat burning machine moving.

Please feel free to read more about this research topic here. In addition, the whole paper is available for purchase.

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