Estrogen & Body Fat: Menopause, Puberty, Females vs. Males

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The biology of fat tissue, estrogen's role in metabolism and health, and how exercise interacts with these processes, especially during menopause.

TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• Adipose tissue basics: White fat primarily stores energy in large lipid droplets, while brown fat burns fatty acids for heat via high mitochondrial density; white fat can “brown” with exercise or certain foods like capsaicin.
• Fat distribution & health: Subcutaneous fat (under skin) is more insulin-sensitive and less problematic than visceral fat (around organs), which links to metabolic issues; females store more subcutaneously pre-menopause, shifting to visceral post-menopause.
• Estrogen signaling: Estradiol binds nuclear and membrane receptors to regulate gene expression and mitochondrial function; it enhances insulin sensitivity and browning in fat cells, with receptors like ER-alpha feminizing fat distribution.
• Fat storage: Fat cells enlarge (hypertrophy) more than multiply in obesity, leading to hypoxia, inflammation, and insulin resistance; excess fatty acids spill to liver and muscle, worsening metabolic dysfunction.
• Menopause effects: Estrogen drop causes visceral fat gain, reduced energy expenditure, insulin resistance, and higher metabolic disease risk; symptoms include hot flashes and reduced exercise motivation, modeled in rodents via ovary removal.
• Exercise & estrogen links: Exercise boosts estrogen receptor expression and mitochondrial density in fat, mimicking estrogen’s browning effects; synergism may explain reduced exercise responsiveness post-menopause.
• Brain-fat connections: Estrogen in the nucleus accumbens influences exercise motivation and fat browning; manipulations there alter running behavior and adipose metabolism in rodents.

ABOUT THE GUEST: Victoria Vieira-Potter, PhD leads a lab at the University of Missouri, studying how estrogen and exercise influence adipose cells.

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