COPENHAGEN (Dispatches) -- University of Copenhagen researchers report that Fat tissue plays an important role in human health. But , our fat tissue loses function as we age, which can lead to type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancer and other ailments. High levels of lifelong exercise seem to counteract this deterioration.
The study indicates that although our fatty tissue loses important function with age, a high volume of exercise can have a significant impact for the better.
Assistant Professor Anders Gudiksen of the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Biology says that our overall health is closely linked with how well our fat tissue functions.He said that in the past, they regarded fat as an energy depot. In fact, fat is an organ that interacts with other organs and can optimize metabolic function. Among other things, fat tissue releases substances that affect muscle and brain metabolism when we feel hungry and much more. So, it’s important that fat tissue works the way it should, he said.
The researchers compared mitochondrial performance across a range of young and older untrained, moderately trained and highly exercise trained Danish men. The results demonstrate that the ability of mitochondria to respire -- i.e., produce energy -- decreases with age, regardless of how much a person exercises.
However, Anders Gudiksen explains: “Although mitochondrial function decreases with age, we can see that a high level of lifelong exercise exerts a powerful compensatory effect. In the group of well-trained older men, fat cells are able to respire more than twice as much as in untrained older men.”