Fat placement matters?
Posted On October 5, 2010
I saw this headline and thought, “oh, neat, something showing how fat location (hips versus belly, pears versus apples) matters.”
But this study is like a mediocre movie with a killer trailer advertisement. You get all psyched, but the body of work itself is pretty useless.
Here’s what they found:
As test subjects (humans) gained weight, they added new fat cells on their thighs, while fat cells on their bellies expanded, Michael Jensen of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and colleagues found.
Huh. Soooo, on the legs, subjects added NEW fat cells; on the belly, they expanded existing fat cells. Okay. Sooo, what’s the significance of this? How is it relevant to the 2/3 of Americans who are overweight or obese? The authors themselves say, later in the article, that they don’t really know why this matters.
As an academic FYI, this is great stuff. As a practical matter for you and me and my mom, it’s a mediocre movie with a killer trailer.
Gorging study shows with fat, location matters | Reuters
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