20 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT FAT
1 They’re doing something right out
West. Sixty-six percent of Americans are
overweight or obese, with the national
obesity rate doubling between 1976 and
1999. But as of 2007, California was the
only state not getting any fatter.
2 The root of the problem? Depending on
gender and how active they are, adults
should eat 2,000 to 3,000 calories per
day. U.S. agriculture now produces 3,900
calories of food per inhabitant per day.
3 People who regularly eat dinner or
breakfast in restaurants double their risk
of becoming obese.
4 Being overweight reduces a woman’s
chances of getting pregnant.
5 The National Institutes of Health
believes obesity is one of the reasons
why the fastest-growing group of women
experiencing infertility are those under 25.
6 We’re trying. Each year nearly $50 billion is spent on diet programs.
7 People who lose just 10 percent of their
weight report significant improvement in
their sex lives.
8 Biology is trying to help too. Leptin is
a hunger-slaking hormone pumped into
the bloodstream by fat cells. The more
fat you have, the more leptin you make
and the less hungry you feel.
number of fat cells in your spare tire.
Diet and exercise just shrink them.
9 Want to get your hands on some leptin?
The hormone never panned out as a diet
aid because most overweight people
have become insensitive to it.
13 New Zealander Pete Bethune gave a
whole new meaning to biofuel when he
used his liposuctioned fat to power the
world’s fastest eco-boat. A way to solve
the obesity epidemic and the fuel crisis?
17 The brain is about 70 percent fat.
10 Over the course of a year, about 10
percent of an adult’s fat cells die. Alas,
the body promptly replaces them.
14 It may make you prettier, but not
healthier. Liposuction doesn’t remove fat
from around the internal organs, so your
fat-related health risks are unchanged.
18 Bottlenose dolphins use fatty tissue in
the head, concentrated in an organ called
the melon, to focus sound waves, giving
them their sonar ability.
11 The total number of fat cells in your
body remains constant once you reach
adulthood. Even after radical weight-loss
procedures such as stomach stapling, fat
cells return to their presurgery numbers
within two years.
15 Blame Mom and Dad. Obesity is more
heritable than schizophrenia, high blood
pressure, and alcoholism.
19 Think you have a spare tire? Whales
are wrapped in fat—a thick layer of
blubber—as vital insulation against the
cold. Some whales have a blubber layer
up to 20 inches thick.
12 Try the vacuum instead. Liposuction
is the only way to actually reduce the
16 Cutting saturated fat intake to the
recommended 10 percent of your calories
will prolong your life, but only by a few
months at most, researchers found.
20 Camels have the opposite problem:
Living in hot climates, they want as little
heat-trapping insulation as possible, so
they concentrate their fat in their humps.
Jocelyn Rice
C. J. BUR TON/CORBIS
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