YES there are a lot of other processes in the body that can be damaged by being blocked with excess fat
All Cells have a supporting network, called a Cytoskeleton (the internal skeleton for the cell)
With too much fat in the body, what happens is that, huge fat droplet keeps growing within the cell.
This then disrupts the cytoskeleton.
How insulin works within the fat cell, is that it signals the cell to recruit more glucose receptors, (transporters) known as GLUT4 receptors, to the cell membrane or surface.
These transporters are then moved from the internal cellular pools to the cell membrane.(surface)
Quantitatively this is not very relevant because fat cells take up only about 5% of the glucose in the body.
However, a more crucial role played by fat cells, is from a signalling perspective. This is where the body's insulin sensitivity lies.
So for the core of the body's insulin sensitivity to be effective, this process of recruiting GLUT4 transporters has to work effectively.
When the cytoskeleton of the fat cells is 'mechanically' affected (like being 'blocked' or 'obstructed' to use an everyday parlance) by excess fat deposits, it disrupts the recruitment of these GLUT4 receptors from the internal membrane pools to the cell membrane or surface.
So basically the adipocyte signalling which is very important for systemic signalling in Insulin sensitivity within the body is broken, (malfunctioning) because, the cell has now become oversized and grown beyond a size at which it can internally signal.(Try and imagine Usain Bolt + extra 3 or 4 stones in weight, trying to do a100mtrs sprint at his Olympic record speed)
The role of fat in disrupting Insulin sensitivity and the endocrinal signalling therefrom, is purely mechanical as per my Usain Bolt analogy at the initial stage.
However, as time goes on, these oversize fat cells start secreting different hormones known as 'Adipokines'
They also start secreting what is known as 'Microphage chemo-attractant proteins' which induces the body to call in the immune system, to solve the problem because these now oversized fat cells are signalling to the body that they cannot operate anymore.
These microphages when they come in, take up an inflammatory profile.
Which is why at this state Interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β) and Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) will begin to rise.
This is the stage at which all hell breaks loose, because as we are well aware, INFLAMATION, is responsible for a lot of the disease state in the body.
