Can someone please explain to me WHY having a fatty meal would increase lymph flow? I think that it somehow increases elevated capillary hydrostatic pressure which in turn increases lymph flow but I am not confident in my current understanding. My thinking was that chronic high fat meals/obesity would actually do the opposite and create more blockage of lymph ducts hence why there is higher incidence of lymphedema. Thanks!
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When fats are digested, then break down into phospholipids and cholesterol. Since fats don’t dissolve in blood (blood is mostly water), the fats are carried by a protein called “lipoprotein”. One type of these lipoproteins is called a chylomicron. Chylomicrons are special because once they grab onto the fats and cholesterol in the intestines, they DONT go into the blood. Instead they go into your lymph (chylo means lymph in Greek). This lymph flows up your abdomen thru the thoracic lymph duct and empties into your subclavian vein in your shoulder. Finally this blood can go into systemic circulation so that all your tissues can get some of that fat and cholesterol that’s carried by the chylomicron.
Because you want these chylomicrons to carry as much of the digested fats as possible (you dont want to waste that precious digestion), your body secretes a bunch of signaling molecules and hormones to improve lymph flow. So chylomicrons are constantly turning over and all the fat and cholesterol gets absorbed.
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