Adiposopathy: sick fat causes high blood sugar, high blood pressure and dyslipidemia

Abstract

Adiposopathy is defined as pathological adipose tissue function that may be promoted and exacerbated by fat accumulation (adiposity) and sedentary lifestyle in genetically susceptible patients. Adiposopathy is a root cause of some of the most common metabolic diseases observed in clinical practice, including Type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension and dyslipidemia. The most common term for the metabolic consequences of adiposopathy is currently ‘the metabolic syndrome’. Drug usage to treat the metabolic syndrome has focused on the safety and efficacy of treatments directed towards individual components of the metabolic syndrome, and not so much upon adiposopathy itself. However, enough is known about the pathophysiology of adiposopathy to propose diagnostic criteria. Regulatory issues are important obstacles to the research and development of new drug treatments for the metabolic syndrome. It is hoped that these obstacles can, to some extent, be addressed and overcome by clearly defining and increasing our understanding of adiposopathy.