|
|
||
Butt fat is better than gut fat Date published: 9/24/2006
BUTTS, NOT GUTS--that's As researchers investigate the epidemic that is threatening our modern civilization, they are finding that fat is not the inert substance we once thought it was. It is an active part of our endocrine system, and fat in different locations has radically different metabolic effects. You're probably sick of hearing about the epidemic of obesity. But the fact is, the industrialized world appears to be eating itself to death. Adult obesity has doubled and childhood obesity has tripled in the last 30 years, to the point where children born today have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. You probably know that being too fat is associated with high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, osteoarthritis, asthma, sleep apnea, gall bladder disease, certain kinds of cancers--and various psychosocial and lesser ailments. Most significant is the association with diabetes, which leads to a host of disorders of the blood vessels and nerves, the end stage of which can culminate in blindness, heart attacks, strokes, amputation of the feet and renal failure. So this is not good. But medical science is populated with ambitious and curious folks who love a challenge, and they have turned their attention to this mass of blubber that threatens to annihilate our overfed society. Their investigations reveal that fat is a very active part of our endocrine system--so much so that some regard it as the largest endocrine organ of the body. (The conventional endocrine system is the series of glands like the pituitary and the thyroid that control so much of the body's metabolism and other functions, through the hormones they release.) Fat's impact on metabolism depends on its location. The visceral fat in your belly that surrounds your abdominal organs, and gives your body an apple shape, is bad. It is associated with a particularly pernicious derangement of sugar and fat metabolism called metabolic syndrome, which puts people at increased risk for heart disease. By contrast, gluteal fat ("gluteal" being the genteel medical term for your butt), which gives people a pear shape, does not have this association. It actually can be beneficial, acting as a metabolic sink and clearing fatty acids out of your blood stream after you eat a fatty meal. So, the mantra is "butts, not guts," or pears, not apples.
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
|
|
||||||||||||||
