The facts about cellulite, subcutaneous fat, visceral fat and inflammation

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• Contrary to tabloid clickbait articles, of course cellulite does NOT protect from stroke or dementia, duh!

• Subcutaneous fat, visceral fat, cellulite, inflammation, stroke and dementia

• Visceral fat is inflammatory. Subcutaneous fat is less so.

• Jumping from mice to men. And from subcutaneous to hypodermal.

• More detail about the study

• Subcutaneous fat is just a non-inflammatory dumping ground, a gluttony landfill

• In summary the facts are as follows:

• Sex Differences in Adipose Tissue Distribution Determine Susceptibility to Neuroinflammation in Mice With Dietary Obesity

• Check our professional consultancy in radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening

Contrary to tabloid clickbait articles, of course cellulite does NOT protect from stroke or dementia, duh!

A UK tabloid newspaper has published a clickbait article yesterday (13/12/2022, when this article was written) with the sensationalistic title “Cellulite might PROTECT against dementia and strokes, study suggests”.

Of course no study suggests such thing, this is just a tabloid clickbait article which distorts the good work done. by scientists in the fields of adipose tissue inflammation and stroke/dementia.

In fact this article confuses (probably due to ignorance and to attract clicks):

• SUBCUTANEOUS FAT (a generally not so inflammatory adipose depot) in MICE

  with HYPODERMAL FAT / cellulite (a highly inflammatory adipose depot, which behaves more like visceral fat than subcutaneous fat) in HUMANS

In fact, the authors of the original scientific paper DO NOT ONCE MENTION the word ‘cellulite’ in their study and press release.

The sensationalistic cellulite-stroke connection was 100% made up and imagined by the tabloid editor.

But let’s examine the article and the original study in more detail.

Visceral fat is inflammatory. Subcutaneous fat is less so.

According to the article: “Women who tend to collect fat around their thighs, hips and buttocks may enjoy extra protection against dementia and strokes, a study suggests. Tests on mice indicated that subcutaneous fat - which sits under the skin and causes cellulite - protects against inflammation-related disorders, including heart disease.”

Sure, it has been known for decades that subcutaneous fat is not as inflammatory as liver fat (intrahepatic fat) or stomach fat (visceral fat), and for that reason subcutaneous fat accumulation does not cause AS MUCH degenerative disease (such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, dementia etc) as visceral fat.

This study, IN MICE, reconfirms that peripheral obesity (subcutaneous fat) is not AS BAD as central obesity (liver / stomach fat), which is also closely linked to diabetes.

In fact, the article states, two paragraphs down from their sensationalistic title, “But the study does not suggest that women should purposefully put on weight — as mountains of research show obesity can drive up the risk of chronic conditions like dementia, strokes and heart disease.”

Basically, according to this article, peripheral fat both CAUSES and DOESN’T CAUSE strokes and dementia.

Take your pick, whichever you prefer.

Pathetic…

Jumping from mice to men. And from subcutaneous to hypodermal.

Furthermore, in the same article, the author confuses cellulite (i.e. hypodermal fat, which is well known for its inflammatory profile) with subcutaneous fat (which, as we mentioned above, does not tend to harbour so much inflammation).

In summary, the newspaper took the studies’ findings in…

• a non-inflammatory adipose tissue

• i.e. subcutaneous fat

• in mice

…and imagined them to apply to:

• a well-known inflammatory adipose tissue

• i.e. hypodermal fat / cellulite

• In humans

To put it as clearly as possible:

• Cellulite is NOT subcutaneous fat, it is hypodermal fat

• Humans are NOT mice

• Mice do NOT even have hypodermal adipose tissue (cellulite)

• The study’s scientists did NOT even mention cellulite in the paper once

• But above all, cellulite definitely does NOT protect from stroke or dementia

In fact, cellulite (especially progressed, highly inflamed and fibrotic cellulite) may even contribute somewhat (let’s not be sensationalistic here either) to those two conditions, due to its inherent inflammatory status.

More detail about the study

The reason subcutaneous fat tissue protects (to some extent and not always) from whole body - and therefore brain - inflammation, is that it absorbs excess calories / fat, without getting inflamed. The price you pay for this fat absorption is obesity, of course…

To put it bluntly, the buttocks and thighs act as a dumping ground for unwanted dietary fat.

Stomach and liver fat tissue also absorb excess calories / fat but for various physiological reasons they become inflamed in the process.

When you take away that subcutaneous fat by liposuction (as the researchers did), any extra fat the mouse/human/other organism needs to store, will be stored to a larger extent in the stomach / liver area and will produce inflammation (BTW, cellulite cannot be removed by liposuction).

So, the facts, reconfirmed by this MOUSE study are:

• Men, who tend to store fat in the stomach (visceral adipose tissue) or liver, have a higher chance of inflammatory diseases, such as heart disease and stroke

• Pear-shaped women, who store fat in their subcutaneous adipose tissue (‘plain fat’) on the buttocks, thighs and arms, have a lower chance to develop those diseases

• Any fat stored in the hypodermal adipose tissue (‘cellulite’) of the buttocks, thighs and arms of women actually contributes to inflammation

• Post-menopausal women, who start storing more fat again on their stomach/liver, are less protected than younger women

• Apple-shaped women, who store more fat on their stomach/liver, are less protected than younger women

Subcutaneous fat is just a less inflammatory dumping ground for excess calories, a gluttony landfill

As mentioned above, what neither the study nor the press article mention is that the subcutaneous adipose tissue is only “protective” because the body can dump excess calories / fat there without too much inflammation.

If we do not consume excess calories, we do not need any subcutaneous or other adipose tissue to dump stuff there and protect us from our excesses.

Healthy nutrition, exercise and slim (but not anorexic, of course) are always better and healthier than excess calorie intake and “healthy fatness” on the thighs and butt.

And help keep cellulite at bay too

In summary the facts are as follows:

• Visceral fat is an inflammatory fat tissue that can cause conditions such as stroke and dementia

• Subcutaneous fat is more innocuous

• However, cellulite is NOT subcutaneous fat

• Cellulite is actually a quite inflammatory hypodermal fat tissue and behaves more like visceral fat

• Plus mice are not humans: mice do not even have hypodermal adipose tissue (cellulite)

• So no, cellulite will definitely NOT protect you from stroke, dementia or any other condition - forget what tabloid journalism says

Sex Differences in Adipose Tissue Distribution Determine Susceptibility to Neuroinflammation in Mice With Dietary Obesity

• Article Link: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11534503/Cellulite-PROTECT-against-dementia-strokes-study-suggests.html

• Science paper press release link: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/974209

• Science paper asbtract link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36367881/

• Abstract: Preferential energy storage in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) confers protection against obesity-induced pathophysiology in females. Females also exhibit distinct immunological responses, relative to males. These differences are often attributed to sex hormones, but reciprocal interactions between metabolism, immunity, and gonadal steroids remain poorly understood. Here, we systematically characterized adipose tissue hypertrophy, sex steroids, and inflammation in male and female mice after increasing durations of high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity. After observing that sex differences in adipose tissue distribution before HFD were correlated with lasting protection against inflammation in females, we hypothesized that a priori differences in the ratio of subcutaneous to visceral fat might mediate this relationship. To test this, male and female mice received SAT lipectomy (LPX) or sham surgery before HFD challenge, followed by analysis of glial reactivity, adipose tissue inflammation, and reproductive steroids. Because LPX eliminated female resistance to the pro-inflammatory effects of HFD without changing circulating sex hormones, we conclude that sexually dimorphic organization of subcutaneous and visceral fat determines susceptibility to inflammation in obesity.

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