Why Belly Fat Isn't All Bad

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 9:28 pm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 193448.htm

A fatty membrane in the belly called the omentum has until recently been considered somewhat like the appendix -- it didn't seem to serve much purpose. But Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine researchers have found that the omentum appears to play an important role in regulating the immune system. The finding could lead to new drugs for organ transplant patients and patients with auto-immune diseases such as lupus and Crohn's disease.

It appears that omentum cells secrete a substance that tamps down the immune system. This discovery could lead to new drugs that would suppress the immune system with fewer side effects than those caused by immune-suppressing drugs now in use. Such drugs could be used, for example, to suppress the immune system in a patient who has received a lung transplant.

In addition to modulating the immune system, the omentum also appears to play a critical role in regenerating damaged tissues, Iwashima said. The omentum contains mesenchymal stem cells that migrate to the site of an injury and help regenerate tissue. Mesenchymal stem cells are cells that have the ability to develop into various types of specialized cells.

Post by **tex** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 8:01 am

If it weren't for belly fat there would be no bacon.

It seems that everyone in the medical arena wants to treat disease by suppressing the immune system. The problem with that approach is that it's basically counterproductive, because as soon as the immune system is suppressed, then we are defenseless against infections by bacteria and viruses, and in addition, any cancer cells, or precancerous cells can run amuck. Weakened or suppressed immune systems also allow so-called "super bugs" to continue to evolve into ever-greater threats. Treating disease by suppressing the immune system is a very unsophisticated approach to disease management. One would think that by now, the medical community would be working to developing methods for enhancing the immune system, not suppressing it.

The thing about the immune system regulatory mechanisms built into the human body is that they simply prevent certain types of immune system components from getting out of hand in specific situations. When the guys in the white coats try to utilize this type of approach, they end up suppressing either the entire immune system, or major parts of it for all functions, not just for the specific applications that are needed to resolve a local issue, and as a result, the patient loses most of the benefits of their immune system, opening the door to other potential problems.

Tex

Deb · Post by **Deb** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:59 am

Oh shucks, and here I was ready to start rooting for belly fat!

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:33 pm

I can never remember who is on which side of the debate over MC being caused by a suppressed immune system or an over-active immune system. Then there is the virus possibility...

Post by **tex** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:45 pm

We're all pretty much guessing, of course, but my primary position is that we know so little about how the immune system actually functions, that any attempts to manipulate it are so unsophisticated as to be ludicrous. The ability to do it right is probably still a thousand years away.

The current state of drug development amounts to stumbling around in the dark, trying this, and trying that, until someone happens to notice that a compound might possibly have some useful purpose. IOW, most drugs are developed/discovered "accidentally". "Accidental" products are not efficient products -- they're make-do products.

Given the current state of unsophistication, the hallmark of drugs in general is that whenever they are used to "correct" one problem, they inevitably mess up something else.

Tex