When your body has extra energy, it stores it in fat cells by making the cells bigger or making more of them.
Scientific Claim
Adipose tissue expands through increases in adipocyte size (hypertrophy) and number (hyperplasia) to store excess energy, and this expansion is a fundamental physiological response to energy surplus.
Original Statement
“To handle excess energy, adipose tissue expands by increasing adipocyte size (hypertrophy) and number (hyperplasia).”
Evidence Quality Assessment
Claim Status
overstated
Study Design Support
Design cannot support claim
Appropriate Language Strength
association
Can only show association/correlation
Assessment Explanation
Based on abstract only - full methodology not available to verify. The abstract presents this as a general fact, but as a narrative review with no original data, it cannot establish definitive biological mechanisms without empirical support.
More Accurate Statement
“It has been proposed that adipose tissue expands through increases in adipocyte size (hypertrophy) and number (hyperplasia) to store excess energy, though direct evidence from this study is not available.”
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
Adipose cell size: importance in health and disease.
When you eat more calories than your body needs, your fat cells get bigger and sometimes more numerous to store the extra energy — and this study confirms that’s exactly how your body handles it.