Episode #20 Adipose as a Hormone Secreting System?
I hope that you guys have all taken some time to do a little self-care and self reflection in the last few episodes. Remembering that you are very important to yourself and your family and your patients. If you missed the self care episode go back and listen to it at nphealthinterventions.com/15. Just the fact that you continue to listen to Health Interventions for Your Practice tells me that you care a lot about the service you provide. I also know that you must be very interested in staying up-to-date on things that you can do to implement health and wellness into your practice.
One of the main things that you can do to implement health and wellness and protect your patients is to manage obesity. That is the core of Health Interventions for Your Practice. Why is that? You already know, of course, that A lower BMI is better for overall general health. But what do you really know about the effects of obesity? Beyond the hyperlipidemia, diabetes, metabolic syndrome diagnosis? Last episode was a discussion all about metabolic syndrome. If you missed it, go back. nphealthinterventions.com/19.
I always like to think I’m going to give you a little tidbit of information you may not have known or that you may find fascinating. Because as I told you, I’m just a big nerd and I love fascinating facts. Particularly medical facts. The fascinating fact we’re going to talk about today is that adipose is actually part of the endocrine system. It has recently been classified as its own hormone secreting organ.
What?? You may be sitting with your mouth open right now or going is that so? Yep, that is so.
Think about it. It makes sense. I have went through other episodes talking about the role that adipose plays on the immune system because of the inflammation that is produced.
Let’s go way back to anatomy and physiology class to grasp this. You may recall that there is white fat and brown fat. I bet you haven’t thought about brown fat in a long time. But brown fat actually helps to produce ATP to support thermogenesis and is found around our organs to protect them.
Then we have the white fat, which is primarily found in the subcutaneous spaces and stores energy. So to repeat that: we have brown fat which produces energy via thermogenesis and we have white fat which stores energy. This white fat that stores energy is what, in excess, secretes hormones leading to the worsening of obesity. White fat happen to be the LARGEST secretory endocrine organ. And the fat we will be focusing on.
Let’s talk about the hormones of adipose. Because being a part of the endocrine system means the organ secretes hormones. The hormones that are secreted by adipose tissue include leptin, angiotensinogen, tumor necrosis factor -alpha, interleukin 6, resistin, free fatty acids, glycerol, adiponectin and many others. The specifics of each one of these were not going to dive into, because Health Interventions For Your Practice and this podcast are all about bringing it down to every day practice. As in, you are learning the information that you need to implement into practice and break it down for the patients to help motivate them to control their BMI and to remind you of why Obesity management is so much more important than just following the guidelines that are set out by multiple different organizations.
Many of the hormones that are secreted by adipose lead to increased hunger, insulin dysfunction and even thrombosis. So let’s review a few of the hormones that make obesity a viscous cycle that is hard to get out of. A cycle that requires more discussion and advice than just eat less, move more.
The top 4 Hormones Secreted By Adipose:
Leptin: Leptin is secreted primarily by white subcutaneous fat. It sends signals to the brain that regulate appetite and energy output. When leptin is high, insulin levels are high. Remember adipose is “storing energy”. Growth hormone, melatonin and thyroid hormone can decrease leptin.
Angiotensinogen: Precursor to angiotensin II, as we know regulates BP, but also there is evidence of involvement in the differentiation and growth of adipocytes. Isn’t that fascinating?
TNF-a: Was the first adipose derived factor to be a link between obesity, inflammation and diabetes. This hormone effects insulin signaling and is thought to be the cause of insulin resistance in obesity.
Il-6 : Is pro-inflammatory and found in visceral fat. Levels of Il-6 are high in Type 2 DM and are strongly correlated with body mass. Elevated levels are associated with atherosclerosis and unstable angina.
Don’t worry, I made a cheat sheet you can download here.
The purpose of this episode is to support the evidence of the interconnection and complexity of so many disease processes in the body and how they relate to obesity. Last episode I asked you how you felt about the term “Metabolic Syndrome”.
Has you thought changed habit?
Are you seeing that deeper connections and maybe understand why I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE helping patients and my fellow NPs fight obesity!! It’s not about another pill. It's about making the changes that'll bring inflammation down and get obesity under control. Pills would just continue to cover things up. One pill lead to another pill, which will lead to another pill. When we treat the source and we give the patients the information they need to motivate them, we will be successful in this battle against obesity. Patients don't need to know all of the details that we need to know. Remember they don't care about the numbers, they care about how they feel. And they know that when they're overweight they feel awful.
Are you blown away?? Told you there was so much more to it than just eat less move more. Make sure to keep listening in. You never know what I am going to tell you next time!
And in case you missed the news in the last episode and you are finding more reasons you want to learn how to Master this management of obesity…
I will be doing a New Program Launch in December 2020. The Wellness and Weight Management Course is getting even better! It’s got a new name.. Master Obesity in Your Clinical Practice. More information, more bonuses, more action items for your practice AND a Private Facebook group for course members. That means more valuable time with ME!!! Yay! I will be able to offer more support to more practitioners that way. So, I hope you believe me when I say, I listened! I took your feedback and questions and revamped. Stay tuned to keep up to date. You’ll definitely want to sign up for my emails so you can take action. There will be special discounts offered for the “Founding Members” of the new improved program and of the new Facebook Group where everyone that has taken the course can come together to grow together and support each other in Obesity Management. The future of healthcare I believe.
You can find more of me and what I’m up to on healthinterventions.net, Facebook and Instagram!
Have a great week! May it be filled with many Health Interventions!