Abstract
Obesity is associated with a number of metabolic disorders that lead to the development of type 2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia and ultimately cardiovascular diseases. An important role in the pathogenesis of metabolic disorders accompanying obesity is probably played by the alterations of adipose tissue characteristics: metabolic, endocrine and immune functions.
The key component of obesity treatment, the weight-reduction energy-restricted diet, leads not only to the reduction of weight (specifically fat mass), but also to correction of obesity accompanying metabolic disorders. The mechanisms which mediate the metabolic effect of the weight-reduction energy-restricted diet, are unclear.
It can be assumed that the weight-reduction diet "corrects" the impaired functions of the obese individual's adipose tissue and, subsequently, of the resulting metabolic disorders. The following text presents an overview of the changes of morphological and functional characteristics of adipose tissue that are induced by weight-reduction energy-restricted diets in obese individuals: the energy-restricted diet and the associated weight reduction cause a change in the size and differentiation of adipocytes, a change of metabolic functions, primarily of the regulation of adipose tissue lipolysis and lipogenesis, change in the regulation of endocrine functions and, finally, they lead to the change in the immune function indicators, i.e. adipose tissue infiltration with immune cells and secretion of a spectrum of cytokines.
The knowledge about the mechanisms of favourable metabolic effects of energy-restricted diets may lead to an advancement in non-pharmacological procedures of therapy for obesity and its complications, and, in the longer, term to the development of new therapeutic pharmacological procedures.