Introduction:
Women are more likely to be affected by obesity than men. Obesity among women poses many risks, like diabetes, heart disease, breast cancer, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), pregnancy issues, and many cancers. Hence, maintaining a healthy weight is necessary for good health and quality of life.
What Is Obesity?
Obesity is defined as excessive fat accumulation in the body. This may create a risk of severe illnesses. A body mass index (BMI) of 25 is considered overweight, and a BMI above 30 is obese. Obesity has grown to epidemic proportions, with 4 million people dying every year due to this condition. The rate of obesity and overweight is increasing among adults and children.
Obesity is caused by overeating and spending fewer calories due to decreased daily activity.
Problems related to obesity are
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Difficulty in breathing.
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Excessive sweating.
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Presence of snoring during sleep.
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Difficulty in performing physical activities.
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Tiredness.
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Pain in joints and back.
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Low self-confidence.
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Feel isolated.
Psychological problems associated with obesity may lead to depression and affect relationships with family and friends.
Other Serious Health Issues Include
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Type II diabetes.
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High blood pressure.
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High cholesterol.
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Cancers.
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Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD).
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Gall stones.
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Sleep apnea.
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Liver disease.
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Kidney disease.
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Pregnancy complications include gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy).
Hormones like leptin, insulin, sex hormones, and growth hormone play a role in influencing appetite, metabolism, and the accumulation of body fat.
The testes and ovaries of men and post-menopausal women secrete estrogen. With the increase in age, it may also be produced in body fat in lower amounts through aromatization. Hence as there is a change in age, sex hormone levels are associated with the distribution of body fat.
Growth hormone also influences height, bones, and muscles. It also affects metabolism. Research has found that there are decreased levels of growth hormone observed among obese individuals.
What Is Aromatase?
Aromatase is an enzyme that converts androgens to estrogens. It is used as an effective therapy for the treatment of endocrine-responsive breast cancer. It is a product of the CYP19 gene and is a cytochrome P 450 family member.
The aromatase gene in humans contains 10 exons. One among these encodes 9 alternative promoters to regulate tissue-specific expression. The other 9 are protein-coding exons. Aromatase is expressed in cells of a variety of estrogen-producing tissues.
Estrogen-producing tissues include the placenta, ovaries, testes, skin, adipose tissue, bone, brain, and vascular smooth muscle cells. Aromatase produced in ovarian granulosa and luteinized granulosa cells play an important role in women of reproductive age.
In the ovaries, estradiol is produced by converting C19 androgens under the influence of aromatase. Hence, aromatase activity is evaluated by knowing the ratio of estradiol (E2) to testosterone. Many studies have found that there is a dysfunctional P450-aromatase activity among women with PCOS.
The Aromatase enzyme regulates BMI by regulating the estradiol-to- testosterone ratio.
What Is the Correlation Between Aromatase and Obesity in Women?
Aromatase is an enzyme that plays a role in converting androgens into estrogens. This enzyme is associated with obesity, sex hormones, and PCOS. PCOS has significant clinical implications for reproductive and endocrine health, obesity, and hyperandrogenism.
In the case of obesity, especially abdominal obesity, it is the factor that aggravates PCOS endocrine disorders, whereas subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue and liver tissues aggravate extragonadal aromatization.
In PCOS, abnormal hormone levels may include increased luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone, estradiol, and decreased follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), FSH/LH, and E2/T.
It is found that there is decreased activity of aromatase in the granulosa cells of the polycystic ovary. This leads to an imbalance in the production of estrogen and androgen. Evidence has been found from a study that obesity, especially abdominal obesity, increases the severity of PCOS. This also showed increased insulin resistance among these obese individuals compared to non-obese. It is also found that estrogen can regulate body composition and glucose homeostasis to prevent diet-induced obesity.
Increased estrogen levels are associated with obesity because of the aromatization of androgens in adipocytes. When there is an imbalance in the levels of estrogen due to any reason, it may cause obesity. This may be because estrogen plays a vital role in regulating glucose and lipid metabolism.
High testosterone levels inhibit aromatase activity. PCOS showed high levels of estradiol, which led to hyperandrogenism. Hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance played a role in causing PCOS. A study also found that aromatase plays a role in converting androgen to estrogen and regulates the estrogen-to-testosterone ratio. This, in turn, regulates BMI.
Hence, increasing aromatase activity can help treat PCOS in women, especially those with obesity. Increasing aromatase activity may reduce BMI.
Aromatase activity was lower, and there were increased testosterone levels, decreased estrogen-to-testosterone ratio levels, and raised estradiol among those with increased BMI. This clearly shows the association between aromatase and obesity.
The aromatase enzyme is present in various tissues. This enzyme can increase in the body when body fat increases. Hence, its expression is directly proportional to body fat mass. This leads to fat accumulation and obesity.
Saturated fats are linked to obesity-related inflammation. Inflammation is caused by obesity. This inflammation causes stimulation of NF-ƙB activity in macrophages. This leads to increased levels of pro-inflammatory mediators like TNF-Monsieur, IL-1β, and Cox-2. These are responsible for the induction of aromatase. The study found a correlation between increased BMI and elevated aromatase levels in subcutaneous fat.
Conclusion:
Obesity is a leading disease that is increasing at a fast rate among adults and children in the world. This causes many lifestyle diseases like diabetes, hypertension, etc. It is also associated with hormonal changes. Hence it is important to know how it is linked to hormones and their activity. Aromatase is an enzyme that is linked to obesity through hormones and BMI.
