Fat cell memory

Extracted Attributes

• Field

  Epigenetics

• Mechanism

  Epigenetic modifications to DNA or proteins controlling gene activity in adipocytes.

• Core Concept

  Fat cells retain metabolic and epigenetic characteristics of prior obesity, even after weight loss.

• Research Subjects

  Human and mouse adipose tissue

• Primary Implication

  Contributes to the difficulty in maintaining weight loss and the 'yo-yo effect'.

• Impact on Treatments

  Provides a scientific basis for understanding weight regain after discontinuing GLP-1 Agonists.

• Overall Health Impact

  Despite molecular memory, weight loss still provides numerous metabolic, cardiovascular, mental, and cognitive health benefits.

• Initial Research Location

  Switzerland

• Key Researcher (Senior Author)

  Prof Ferdinand von Meyenn (Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich)

• Limitation of Current Understanding

  While fat cells show memory, it doesn't fully explain all aspects of weight regain; other factors like disrupted leptin signaling are also involved.

Timeline

• A study on fat cell memory, co-authored by Prof Ferdinand von Meyenn, was published in Nature, detailing how fat cells retain a 'memory' of obesity even after weight loss. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2024-11-00

• The Guardian reported on new research indicating that fat 'remembering' past obesity contributes to the yo-yo diet effect. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2024-11-18

• News-Medical.net published an article summarizing findings that cellular and epigenetic changes from obesity may predispose individuals to regain weight due to retained memory within fat cells. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2024-11-19

• The 'Science Corner' segment of the All-In Podcast discussed groundbreaking research from Switzerland on fat cell memory, explaining its role in weight loss maintenance and GLP-1 agonist efficacy. (Source: Related Documents)

  YYYY-MM-DD

Bone marrow

Bone marrow is a semi-solid tissue found within the spongy (also known as cancellous) portions of bones. In birds and mammals, bone marrow is the primary site of new blood cell production (or haematopoiesis). It is composed of hematopoietic cells, marrow adipose tissue, and supportive stromal cells. In adult humans, bone marrow is primarily located in the ribs, vertebrae, sternum, and bones of the pelvis. Bone marrow comprises approximately 5% of total body mass in healthy adult humans, such that a person weighing 73 kg (161 lbs) will have around 3.7 kg (8 lbs) of bone marrow. Human marrow produces approximately 500 billion blood cells per day, which join the systemic circulation via permeable vasculature sinusoids within the medullary cavity. All types of hematopoietic cells, including both myeloid and lymphoid lineages, are created in bone marrow; however, lymphoid cells must migrate to other lymphoid organs (e.g. thymus) in order to complete maturation. Bone marrow transplants can be conducted to treat severe diseases of the bone marrow, including certain forms of cancer such as leukemia. Several types of stem cells are related to bone marrow. Hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow can give rise to hematopoietic lineage cells, and mesenchymal stem cells, which can be isolated from the primary culture of bone marrow stroma, can give rise to bone, adipose, and cartilage tissue.

Web Search Results

• Memories of obesity can linger in fat cells long after weight ...

  To summarize, the findings suggested that cellular and epigenetic changes from obesity may predispose individuals to regain weight due to retained memory within fat cells. Recognizing these persistent alterations could inform future treatments targeting the cellular memory of obesity. By disrupting this memory, it may be possible to enhance the long-term success of weight-loss interventions and improve metabolic health outcomes for individuals with obesity. [...] Furthermore, the murine model epigenetic profiling revealed that adipocytes also retained markers that indicated prior exposure to an obesogenic environment. Moreover, these markers persisted even after weight reduction, suggesting the development of an epigenetic ‘memory’ that influences cellular responses. [...] Despite recent advancements, the exact cellular mechanisms underlying this obesogenic memory and its impact on long-term weight management remain unclear. Therefore, in the present study, researchers analyzed the persistence of obesity-related cellular changes in both human and mouse adipose tissue.

• Does the memory of body cells influence health and weight loss?

  “In mouse adipocytes [fat cells] we find that this memory is encoded in the epigenome, which are modifications to the DNA or the proteins that the DNA is wrapped around, controlling the activity of genes. This epigenome is changed in adipocytes of obese mice and remains changed even after weight loss,” he went on to explain. [...] A study published in November 2024 in Nature found that adipose (fat) tissue cells retain a memory of obesity even after weight loss, which could contribute to the yo-yo weight loss effect, whereby a person regains that shed wight fairly rapidly. [...] The second stage of the study involved confirming the findings in humans by analyzing samples of fat tissue from people who had undergone bariatric surgery as a form of treatment for obesity or overweight. “This memory seems to prepare cells to respond quicker to an obesogenic environment [environment conducive to wight gain] — say, high-sugar, high-fat food — which could be linked to regain of body weight after a diet,” von Meyenn hypothesized.

• Fat 'remembering' past obesity drives yo-yo diet effect, say ...

  Prof Ferdinand von Meyenn, a senior author on the study at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, said: “Our study indicates that one reason maintaining body weight after initial weight loss is difficult is that the fat cells remember their prior obese state and likely aim to return to this state. “The memory seems to prepare cells to respond quicker, and maybe also in unhealthy ways, to sugars or fatty acids.” [...] Writing in Nature, the scientists describe how formerly obese mice gained weight faster than others when put on a high-fat diet, suggesting a shift in metabolism that made it easier for them to gain weight. The memory of obesity in fat cells was not solely to blame, however. The scientists suspect a similar memory exists in brain cells that affects how much food animals consume and how much energy they expend. [...] No one factor drives the yo-yo effect, but new research points to fatty tissue as a leading culprit. Fat “remembers” past obesity and resists attempts to lose weight, scientists found. Researchers identified the biological memory after examining fat tissue from people with obesity before and after they lost weight after bariatric surgery. The tissues were further compared with fat from healthy individuals who had never been obese.

• Do fat cells “remember” obesity even after weight loss?

  Despite the compelling findings that fat cells show a form of “memory” for obesity, these data don’t show that weight regain is attributable to epigenetic changes within fat cells themselves. It is true that the difficulty keeping weight off after weight loss has a biological basis, and it is currently understood to involve disrupted leptin signaling. Leptin, a hormone secreted by fat cells, signals to the brain that the body is satiated and has sufficient energy stores in the form of fat. [...] At most, it suggests that adipose tissue in formerly obese individuals retains a pro-inflammatory, metabolically altered phenotype. So while the maintained features don’t fully explain why people regain weight, they could explain why previously obese individuals remain more vulnerable to metabolic diseases — even after maintaining weight loss. As an analogy, we can imagine fat cell memory as akin to a knee injury. Injuring your knee might not cause re-injury, but it has the potential lasting [...] At first consideration, the finding that weight reduction fails to reverse various pathological features of obesity can make any weight loss efforts seem hopeless. But it’s important to recognize that this study was not designed to capture the many, many established ways in which reduction in fat mass does improve metabolic, cardiovascular, mental, and cognitive health. Fat cells might retain a molecular memory, but that is a far cry from indicating that weight loss does not have numerous,

• Fat cells have a 'memory' of obesity — hinting at why it's ... - Nature

  Traci Watson a senior editor for news and research highlights at Nature. She is based in Washington DC. Search author on: PubMed Google Scholar Even after drastic weight loss, the body’s fat cells carry the ‘memory’ of obesity, research1 shows — a finding that might help to explain why it can be hard to stay trim after a weight-loss programme. ## Access options Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription $32.99 / 30 days [...] Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. Advertisement Advertisement Nature # Fat cells have a ‘memory’ of obesity — hinting at why it’s hard to keep weight off [...] ### Regional websites Springer Nature © 2025 Springer Nature Limited