Excess weight is one of the most disturbing medical problems of a global scale. And why do people need fat cells?.

Is it only to provide "strategic reserves" in case of hunger? It turns out that there is no. Adipocyte fat cells produce the hormone adiponectin, which plays an important role in protecting the body from many troubles. Scientists from the Harvard School of Health published new data that this mysterious hormone reduces the risk of heart attack.

Such sensational data were obtained in a study that was conducted among 18,000 men aged 40 to 75 years. For six years among them, 226 people suffered a heart attack. Among those who had a lower level of adiponectin, this was 40% more than in subjects with a high level of hormone.

Interest in adiponectin has arisen since its discovery in 1998. At that time, large animal studies were conducted in which it was shown that a high content of hormone increases the effectiveness of insulin injections in diabetic patients. Then a group of scientists from Japan in experiments in mice found that adiponectin quickly reduces blood sugar levels. Soon, Dr. Philip Scherer of the New York Medical College named after Albert Einstein noted that the therapeutic effect can be achieved by activating the adiponectin itself or the receptors to this hormone. Later it was found that in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD), the level of adiponectin was reduced. In men with minimal adiponectin, the risk of developing CHD was twice as high as that observed with the highest concentrations of this hormone. And now a new study - now about the connection of the level of the hormone and the risk of developing a heart attack.

What is the mystery of fatty hormone? Scientists suggest that it counteracts the accumulation of fats in the walls of the arteries, thereby reducing the likelihood of blood clots that can lead to myocardial infarction. There is also evidence that adiponectin reduces inflammation, which contributes to a negative contribution to the development of heart disease.

Despite the fact that the hormone is produced by fat cells, in obese patients its level is lowered. In addition, weight reduction contributes to an increase in the level of adiponectin, apparently, that is why weight loss is so important for the prevention of heart disease. After in one experiment the mice receiving adiponectin lost weight, scientists suggested that its function is to burn fat.

The French pharmaceutical company Genset has already announced that it is going to continue the research to find out if it is impossible to create fundamentally new means for losing weight on the basis of a hormone.

Probably, in the near future doctors will be able to use the measurement of the level of adiponectin and as a test for sensitivity to insulin, as well as to determine the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases medicus. En.

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