Revisiting Fat and Inflammation
Becoming overweight sounds like ever more of a bad idea with each passing year. From EurekAlert!: "the research team decided to analyze the blood that ran through it to determine whether visceral fat was involved in inflammation or whether, like subcutaneous fat, it was merely a marker of potential problems. ... the research team says visceral fat likely contributes to increases in systemic inflammation and insulin resistance. They sampled blood from the portal vein in obese patients undergoing gastric bypass surgery and found that visceral fat in the abdomen was secreting high levels of an important inflammatory molecule called interleukin-6 (IL-6) into portal vein blood. ... Increased IL-6 levels in the portal vein correlated with concentrations of an inflammatory substance called C-reactive protein (CRP) in the body. High CRP levels are related to inflammation, and chronic inflammation is associated with insulin resistance, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis, among other things. ... These data support the notion that visceral fat produces inflammatory cytokines that contribute to insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease."
Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-03/wuso-bfm031307.php