脂肪浮腫の6つの健康上の利点 食事、運動、および何を食べるか

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脂肪浮腫または脂肪浮腫は、特に下半身における、炎症を起こした脂肪細胞および不均衡な脂肪沈着物の疾患です。それは主に女性に影響を及ぼし、腰、骨盤、および脚の組織に脂肪の蓄積を引き起こします. 奇妙なことに、それは足と手に影響を与えません。脂肪浮腫の女性は、上半身と比較して腰と脚が大きくなっています。最初は肥満と誤解されるかもしれませんが、足のむくみによる耐え難い痛みや動けなくなることさえあります (1)。月経周期または更年期障害中のホルモン変動は、潜在的に症状を悪化させる可能性があります.

脂肪浮腫は、体内の脂肪沈着物の位置に基づいて、次の 5 つのタイプのいずれかに分類されます (1)。

タイプ 1 – お尻、ヒップ、骨盤。
タイプ 2 – お尻から膝まで。
タイプ 3 – お尻から足首まで。
タイプ 4 – 上腕も含まれます。
タイプ 5 – 下肢のみ。

現在、脂肪浮腫の診断を確認するための特定の臨床検査や画像検査はありません。以下で説明するように、通常は女性の病歴と家族歴、および脂肪浮腫の症状の身体診察に基づいて行われます。

脂肪浮腫の症状

脂肪浮腫を持つほとんどの女性は、下半身に不均一な脂肪沈着があります. 脂肪浮腫に伴う可能性のある他の一般的な症状がいくつかありますが、すべての女性がそれらを持っている必要はありません. Genetic And Rare Diseases Information Center (GARD) によると、これらの症状には (1)、(2) が含まれる場合があります。

•  Painful Fat: The fat build-up in the hips and legs might become painful and tender to touch and any sort of pressure.
•  Easy Bruising: The affected parts of your body might bruise easily. Tiny spider veins that run close to the skin surface might contribute to this bruising.
•  Upper Arm Fat: About a third of women affected with lipedema might also have excess fat build-up in their upper arms.
•  Hard Nodules: Pea-sized hard nodules or lumps of fat can be felt under the skin when massaged.
•  Cuffing At Wrist Or Ankle: Since lipedema does not affect the hands and feet, the swollen legs and arms might look cuffed, especially in later stages of the disease.
•  Cold Skin: The skin of the affected area of the hips and legs might seem cooler to touch than the rest of the body.
•  Immobility: With the worsening of the condition, the increase in leg size, heaviness, and the associated pain might lead to joint damage and changes in your gait, making it difficult to walk at all.
•  Fibrosis: Chronic inflammation in lipedema might also lead to fibrosis or the formation of scar tissue in the fat deposits, further hindering lymph circulationⁱ  XThe movement of lymph from the body tissues into the lymphatic vessels to help protect the body from foreign cells. .
•  Lymphedema: With the progress of the condition, lymphedema (swelling due to lymph fluid blockage) might also occur in the lower limbs and hip area (3).

Apart from the above symptoms, women with lipedema have been found to be more vulnerable to higher rates of migraines, hypothyroidismⁱ  XDeficiency of thyroid hormones that causes growth retardation, poor mental development, and weight gain. , depression as well (4). But, strangely enough, they may have lower risks of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndromeⁱ  XA group of conditions that lead to an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. since most of the fat is deposited in the legs and hips, and not around the visceral organs (5).

Lipedema, with its life-altering symptoms, might take a toll on your physical and mental well-being. However, with proper treatment, exercise, and diet changes, the above symptoms of lipedema can be managed to a certain extent. So, what kind of diet can help reduce fat deposits, pain, and fluid retention without affecting their metabolism?

What Is The Best Diet For Lipedema?

While you may not see an immediate improvement in your condition, there are a few food products that might cause lipedema to worsen. You should avoid the consumption of:

•  Pasteurized dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt)

•  High-fat animal meat (bacon, red meat, sausage)
•  Simple sugars and carbohydrates (white rice, pasta, potatoes, honey, or cereals)
•  Highly processed and salty foods ( beef jerky, smoked meat, canned meat)
•  Processed or refined flour products (white tortillas or bread)

Apart from these basic dietary changes, many women with lipedema have found considerable improvement in their symptoms on following the ketogenic diet (6).

A ketogenic diet restricts the dietary intake of any form of carbohydrates such as sugar, rice, pasta, bread, potatoes, and most fruits. This results in a metabolic state called ketosis, wherein fat becomes the primary source of your body’s energy instead of glucose. But how does a ketogenic diet help improve the symptoms of lipedema? Is it really beneficial in dealing with stubborn fat, its associated pain, and fluid retention? Let’s find out.

Benefits Of The Lipedema Diet

While direct evidence is scanty, a few small studies, clinical trials, and anecdotal evidence suggest that a ketogenic diet may help reduce the fat buildup, pain, and discomfort associated with lipedema (6).

Some of the research pieces of evidence that state the beneficial effects of the ketogenic diet for lipedema are mentioned below.

When women with lipedema shift to a ketogenic diet, there is a resultant change in their metabolism. Their bodies are forced to metabolize fats instead of glucose to produce energy. This may lead to the burning up of some of the excess accumulated body fat. Many studies confirm that when people cut back on carbs completely and fill up on proteins and fats instead, they tend to eat less and lose weight (7), (8).

•  May Help Reduce Fluid Retention

Progression of lipedema may result in lymphedema over time. As per a study, the ketogenic diet can be potentially helpful in reducing lymph fluid retention and swelling of the limbs (9).

•  May Help Reduce Pain And Inflammation

The pain associated with lipedema fat could be due to inflammation and allodynia (nerve pain) (10). A number of studies have shown that a ketogenic diet reduces inflammatory and chronic pain associated with weight and obesity (11). Few animal studies also suggest the beneficial effect of the ketogenic diet in reducing allodynia and inflammation (12), (13).

•  Helps Remove Excess Fluid

Women with lipedema may benefit from the loss of water from their tissues that may help reduce water retention and the corresponding swelling of the limbs. The ketogenic diet has a diuretic effectⁱ  XA state where the body gets rid of excess fluid and salt through urine. initiating loss of water weight in the first few days followed by fat-weight loss (14). As per a study on people with obesity and lymphedema, a ketogenic diet was found effective in reducing the amount of lymph fluid retention in their affected limbs (15).

•  May Help Remove Excess Salt

Women with lipedema tend to have higher sodium concentrations in the accumulated fat tissue of their legs and hips (16), (17). A ketogenic diet, by lowering insulin and releasing water weight, also helps remove salt from your body (18), (19).

•  May Help Improve Mental Health

Women diagnosed with lipedema have been found to feel low, demotivated, and depressed. Pain and lack of mobility affect their mental well-being as well (19), (20). The ketogenic diet has been found to help improve mental health conditions like depression and anxiety (21). This could help improve the quality of life for women suffering from the cumulative health effects of lipedema.

While a change in diet is needed to help facilitate metabolic changes from within, it needs to be supplemented with some amount of exercise to help mobilize the fluid and fat accumulated in lipedema. Let’s delve deeper into what forms of exercise are possible and best suited at different stages of lipedema.

What Is The Best Exercise For Lipedema?

While the painful build-up of fat might prevent you from performing any heavy exercise, maintaining a moderately active lifestyle is key to helping reduce the pain and symptoms. Even gentle walking and leg movements can help mobilize the fat deposits and lymph fluid, reducing the inflammation and pain thereof (22).

In the initial stages of lipedema, women should try and maintain an active lifestyle. Even light walking for 45 minutes, 4 to 5 times a week may be helpful. However, women diagnosed with lipedema in the later stages might find it difficult to move due to the pain associated with the fat buildup in the lower half of their bodies.

In such cases, light aquatic exercises like walking in water or low-impact water aerobics might help provide some relief. Water helps provide buoyancy to help move the body and some amount of compression as well to channelize the lymph circulation. Few women also use rebounders (small trampolines) or exercise on the vibration plates for lipedema (23).

Other treatments that might help improve the symptoms of lipedema include liposuction (surgical removal of subcutaneous fat), massage therapy, compression (with or without vibration therapy), and manual lymph drainage (24), (25).

Regular low-impact exercise and following the lipedema diet might help reduce some symptoms and manage this condition better.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can exercise make lipedema worse?

Yes. High intensity or vigorous exercises may exacerbate lipedema.

Can you lose weight in your legs with lipedema?

No, you cannot lose weight in your legs with lipedema. However, in certain lipedema types, fat accumulation occurs only in particular body parts. If there is fat accumulation in the abdomen, hips, pelvis, and thighs, it can make your legs look smaller.

Is oatmeal good for lipedema?

Yes, whole grains like oats are good for lipedema.

Does fasting help lipedema?

Not really. You should eat a healthy diet (like a ketogenic diet). Your body needs nutrition to survive and be active. Eat foods that have a good amount of fiber and protein and also consume fruits and vegetables.

What happens if lipedema is left untreated?

Lipedema, if left untreated, can elevate the risk of hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, and certain eating disorders (27).

Is turmeric good for lipedema?

Yes. Turmeric functions as an antioxidant and may aid in lowering inflammation, enhancing blood vessels, and eliminating free radicals (28).

How does Mucinex help lipedema?

Mucinex is believed to reduce pain or thin out the extracellular proteins in lipedema tissue and act as an expectorant. However, there is not enough research supporting these beliefs.

What hormone causes lipedema?

Estrogen is the hormone that leads to the development of lipedema (29).

What is the pinch test for lipedema?

You can frequently identify if you have lipedema with a quick pinch test. Lightly pinch the skin in the potentially affected areas of the body to do this. If you have excessive pain, you might have lipedema.

Sources

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Pallavi Jassal is a senior diet and nutrition consultant at LiveLifeMore® Diet & Wellness Clinic, Chandigarh, India. She is a certified diabetes educator and also internationally certified by the Canadian Society of Nutrition Management. She has 20 years of experience in weight loss and therapeutic diets and has presented more than 2500 radio health talks in India and abroad.  …View Profile ›

Varsha holds a master’s degree in biotechnology from Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, and is a certified diet and nutrition coach with two years of experience. She combines her scientific knowledge and her passion for writing to produce research-backed content in the health and wellness domain. Her writing focuses on the health and nutritional benefits of various ingredients and diets and how…View Profile ›