Exercise doesn’t just help you lose fat. It could also promote healthier fat, according to a new study.
“Living a physically active lifestyle, exercising regularly over time, makes our fat tissue a more accommodating place for extra energy under conditions when we do gain weight,” said senior study author Dr. Jeffrey Horowitz, professor of movement studies in the school of kinesiology at the University of Michigan.
To see how exercise impacts fat tissue, researchers compared fat tissue just under the skin from two groups of 16 people with obesity: those who reported exercising at least four times a week for at least 2 years, and those who did not exercise regularly, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Metabolism.
Those who had a history of regular exercise had fat cells that showed characteristics that increase how much fat they can store — the amount of blood vessels, protein composition and fewer inflammatory cells, Horowitz said.
It is important that the fat tissue under the skin has a greater capacity so that if a person does gain weight, it can go there instead of more dangerous places, such as the heart or liver, he added.
“Unfortunately, most of us, even regular exercisers, gain weight as we get older,” Horowitz said. “If we have a greater capacity to store that in our fat tissue, less of it’ll go to our liver, less of it will go to our heart, less will go to all these other places that in excess can be really problematic.”
This study shows that researchers need to learn more about fat tissue and how it is connected to metabolic health and lifestyle changes, said Dr. Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver. Freeman was not involved in this study.
“Just being overweight may not be the whole story,” he said.
Better fat tissue
Many people have an immediate negative reaction to the word “fat.” But that isn’t always helpful, Horowitz said.
“Fat tissue itself is very, very important for health,” he said. “It’s actuallyan important reservoir of our extra energy.”
The tissue used to be understood as only functioning to store energy, but researchers are just starting to learn it has many functions, Freeman said. “It makes sense to have some degree of fat so you have some reserve, but not to the point that the typical American has,” he said.
The goal isn’t more fat tissue, but better capacity to store it, Horowitz said. Fat tissue is supposed to be stored under the skin, and if it can’t go there it’s going to go other places such as your liver, heart or pancreas, he added. More fat in those organs impede how well they function, Horowitz said.
Exercise recommendations
They key takeaway of the study is that healthier fat storage is just another good reason to live a physically active life, Horowitz said.
“We’re not changing the recommendation, but we’re expanding the understanding of why it is helpful to exercise,” he said.
If you want to start, Freeman recommends trying out exercise first thing in the morning.
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“It works as a natural stimulant, just as well as coffee in many cases,” he said. And you don’t need to worry about getting to or paying for a gym.
“There are so many ways to exercise, and figuring out a way to make it part of the daily routine so it becomes a habit, is the most critical of all,” Freeman added.
Getting 30 minutes daily of breathless activity where you are working really hard is the goal, but you can start even by walking around your block, he said.
“Of course, you should check with your doctor first to make sure it’s safe,” Freeman said.