WannaBeBig72 said:
I think this is incorrect. I think (I mean I could be wrong) you have a finite amount and they either expand or contract. I think only women gain fat cells during pregnancy.
Let me give you a couple of deep researched articles:
(First, this is how you can kill them and stop multiplying):
Prins' group has progressed since it reported the discovery of FGF-1 recently in the journal Diabetes.
Laboratory experiments have shown drugs that interfere with FGF-1 stop human fat cells multiplying. And the group is now trialling several drugs to block FGF-1 action in animal studies.
Some drugs that showed potential in the test tube are currently used to treat cancer, he says, because they stop the growth of new blood vessels that feed tumours.
Fat cells divide and conquer
Prins' story began 10 years ago with the discovery that fat cells, like other cells in human tissue, were capable of programmed cell death, or apoptosis, and regeneration.
He says it was possible to isolate immature cells, or fibroblasts known as pre-adipocytes from adipose tissue, or fat.
SECONDLY: (How Leptin signals to the brain to tell us that the FAT CELLS Are Full)
A new understanding into how these cells function is emerging. It seems that we truly are what we eat. Fat cells are the newest organ. Collectively, these cells communicate, interact and perform a unique function. It is now accepted that fat cells can multiply if extra fat storage is required.
The foods we eat are broken down into components and the fat is stored in fat cells. It is constantly being metabolized and released into the blood stream as fatty acids. Fat cells also secrete numerous messengers.
Leptin is produced to signal the brain that the cell is full. The brain then turns off food cravings. Chronic overeating can desensitize this process. Fat cells also produce Resistin which can contribute to insulin resistance and diabetes. Other substances such as Adiponectin can result in beneficial anti-inflammatory effects. Fat cells also make other unique substances such as Tumor Necrosis Factor and Angiotensinogen. All of these seem to interact to maintain our body weight. It is a remarkably efficient system. This system has the ability to regulate and maintain our weight to within a few ounces. Altering the sensitivity of this system by as little as two percent is enough to result in obesity within five year, but it can be altered in a positive direction with regular exercise.
Fat Storage on the Human Body
The majority of stored fat on the human body is present under the skin, or as subcutaneous body fat. This fat tissue is made up of fat cells. A human can have anywhere between 50 – 200 billion fat cells distributed around the body. We also store fat in other areas around the body but this is dependent on the sex of the person. For most females a high percentage of the subcutaneous adipose (fat) tissue surrounds the areas of the breasts, waist, hips and buttocks. Most males have a high percentage of their subcutaneous fat distributed around the chest, abdomen and buttocks regions. There is also fat storage around the kidneys, liver and even inside muscle. In fact as we age fat storage within muscle tends to increase and means we don’t notice an increase in this area like we do when it’s placed around the waist. If activity levels drop its possible that muscle shrinks and fat replaces it, the result is we lose strength with age but muscle volume increases because fat is less dense than muscle and thus occupies more space.
How fat is stored
The sole purpose of a fat cell is to store small droplets of fat molecules. These fat molecules are formed as the concentrations of fatty acids in the blood rises, such as after a big meal. An increase in concentrations within the blood triggers lipase enzymes located in fat tissue, to grab the fatty acids and convert them into a fat molecule (triacylglycerols) for storage.
In fact as we gain weight and become fatter the fat cells do not multiply, rather they just store more fat molecules thus they expand to become larger. Fat cells in the human can multiply but only if fat storage cells “run out”. Read more about fat cell numbers here!
How fat is used
When the body uses stored fat for energy it breaks down the contents of the fat cell via enzymes to release glycerol and fatty acids into the blood. As the circulating fatty acids reach muscle cells that require extra energy they are transported across the membrane and into the muscle cell where the fatty acid enters the mitochondria of the cell. Mitochondria are the powerhouse of a cell; they extract energy from fat and carbohydrates to produce the cell’s usable form of energy - ATP.
Another Study here:
Well what we have done in our laboratory here in Brisbane and also in Cambridge in the UK, was we've demonstrated that human fat cells have the ability to die in simple terms. So individual cells can die at any stage of life, and probably do so all the time, and the fat cells in our body are in a state of turnover, much as our muscle cells are and our liver cells are, and so at any stage of life, we have the ability to either create new fat cells if we're in a state of having more energy into the body than is leaving the body, so if we eat more than we require; but equally we have the potential to lose fat cells in the reverse situation
This article is from EAS (don't see evidence but BIG CLAIMS)-
As for CLA, its powerful nutrient partitioning effects (its ability to direct consumed calories preferentially towards muscle and away from fat) have been demonstrated in a variety of studies. CLA has also been shown to increase the feelings and fullness and satiety in people coming off a low calorie diet, thus decrease the amount of food they eat.
Additionally, CLA may even possess apoptotic characteristics where fat cells are concerned. More simply put, it tends to kill fat cells.
I think using a product that combines these two items in decent dosages could be very helpful in your quest to quell the return of the love handles.
Another article here:
http://www.afosr.af.mil/pdfs/AprMayJun04RH.pdf
(I DON'T KNOW FELLAS, SOME RESEARCH SAYS THAT WE DON'T MULTIPLY FAT CELLS AFTER PUBERTY; SOME RESEARCH SAYS THAT ONLY WOMEN HAVE FAT CELLS THAT MULTIPLY; AND A LOT OF RESEARCH SAYS THE ABOVE (THAT WE DO INDEED MULTIPLY FAT CELLS, JUST LIKE MUSCLE CELLS, ETC..)