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Obesity is already considered a global epidemic by the WHO. It is a condition involving excess body fat that has a negative effect on one's health. In fact, body fat affects both men and women and is detrimental to one's health. However, a new study says that body fat accumulates differently in men and woman and that is the reason it has a different effect on their health. A study led by Djurdjica Coss, an associate professor of biomedical sciences in the UCR School of Medicine sees how body fat can have an impact on health depending on the gender revealed that body fat accumulates differently in men and women and affects them differently.
The study was conducted on male and female rodents who were fed high-fat diets. In the female rodents, the ovaries were removed to understand the role of estrogen and fat distribution. Next, the male and the ovariectomized female rodents were given similar high-fat diets and the results were compared. Now, previous studies have pointed out that women tend to stay lean and slim during the premenopausal phase due to the protective effects of estrogen. Now estrogen is produced by the ovaries and during menopause women tend to gain weight as the protective effects of estrogen diminishes. This is the reason for the study Djurdjica Coss ovariectomized female rodents to know in the absence of estrogen how body fact affects the male and female bodies.
What the study found out?
Djurdjica Coss and her team saw that when fed a high-fat diet both male and female rodents did gain weight but the effects on both the gender were different. This also made the researchers conclude that estrogen is not the only factor that protects females from weight gain and there are other factors too which need to be looked upon. However, when the results were compared it was seen that the male mice had lower testosterone production due to a high-fat diet and the female rodents showed signs of infertility, facts that we already know. But here is the catch: The female rodents didn't show any neuroinflammation nor changes in reproductive hormones, unlike the male rodents, suggesting that they are protected by factors other than ovarian estrogen.
How this study is significant to humans too?
Coss explains that mice also develop insulin insensitivity and type 2 diabetes with high body fat levels, just like humans which are markers of metabolic syndrome. Therefore, with fat having similar effects on mice, the results of the study are highly applicable to humans as well. This means both obese men and women might have similar metabolic problems but the severity differs as in the case of women the fat accumulation doesn't trigger neuroinflammation. This also means that obesity or fat accumulation is more dangerous for men than women.
Why does fat affect men and women differently?
Cross explains that this has something to do with visceral fat and gender. Men usually have an "apple-shaped" body due to the fat accumulating in the belly (visceral fat). However, females have more fat deposits around the hips which lead to a "pear-shaped" body. Visceral fat is highly dangerous as this type of fat is the one that can affect your internal organs. So this might be one reason that triggers neuroinflammation in males.