ALL YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT FAT

ALL YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT FAT

1. Basic facts 

·         An average person is born with 5-6 billion fat cells, while an average adult has 30-40 billion fat cells, most of which are acquired before you turn 20.

·         Each fat cell weighs about 0.4 to 0.6 milligram.

·         The human body has two types of fat tissue:

o        White fat, used in energy metabolism, heat insulation and mechanical cushioning

o        Brown fat, found mostly in new born children, important for generating heat.

·         A pound of fat amounts to 3500 calories.

·         A pound of muscle requires 30-35 calories for its daily functioning, while a pound of fat requires only 2 calories.

·         So, when you build muscle, you boost your Resting Metabolism Rate (RMR), which helps your body burn calories even when you are asleep.

·         The conversion of carbohydrates or protein into fat is about 10 times less efficient than just storing fat in a fat cell.

·         If you have 100 extra calories in fat floating in your blood stream, fat cells can store it using only 2.5 calories of energy.

·         On the other hand, if you have 100 extra calories in glucose floating in your blood stream, it takes 23 calories of energy to convert the glucose into fat and then store it.

·         Given a choice, a fat cell will grab the fat and store it  rather than the carbohydrates because fat is so much easier to store.

·         Depending on colour and location, fat can either be good or bad.

·         There are two fat colours – brown and white.

2. Good brown fat

·         The good brown fat is present more in infants, but some amount is also present on the upper chest and neck in adults.

·         It has more mitochondria (the chemical factories inside our cells), capillaries and iron.

·         It is also more active, generating more oxygen and heat, and burning up more calories.

·         People who jog, play vigorous games and indulge in other vigorous activities have higher levels of irisin, the hormone that converts white fat into brown.

·         They resist weight gain even on a high fat diet and do not develop diabetes.

·         The good subcutaneous fat is found under the skin.

·         It is more evenly distributed in the abdomen, hips and buttocks, with a ‘pear shape’ abdomen.

·         It improves insulin sensitivity and protects from diabetes, high blood pressure and heart attacks.

·         Sumo wrestlers have more of this kind of fat, hence healthy even when being morbidly obese.

·         Out of the several genes in the body, around 20 ‘good fat genes’ are in the subcutaneous tissue.

3. Bad white fat

·         White fat, which is bad, is a storehouse of harmful saturated fats.

·         Abdominal fat, also called visceral fat, is bad and this surrounds the organs in the abdomen.

·         Excess visceral fat causes central obesity, or ‘apple shape’ abdomen protrusion.

·         Visceral fat secretes a group of hormones called adipokines that impairs insulin action, thereby raising blood sugar, causing obesity, heart disease, dementia and even Alzheimer’s disease.

·         Out of the several genes in the body, around 20 ‘bad fat genes’ are in the visceral area.

·          A person has visceral obesity if the waist-hip ratio increases (>0.9 for men and >0.85 for women) or waist circumference increases (>102 cm in men and >88 cm in women).