The word 'fat' has become a stigmatised slur, its importance being considered largely aesthetic over its biological purpose. In reality, there's more to fat than meets the eye, and there is much more to understand when considering fat health than just our lifestyle choices. Fat serves our bodies by providing energy to survive when food isn't accessible. Most people today rarely encounter a situation where food is hard to come by. Yet for our early human ancestors, fat tissue beneath the skin was a buffer between survival and starvation. Fat is broken down in the body into fatty acids, releasing energy for all the cells in your body to use. When your energy levels deplete, the body relies on fat as a backup. The organ is also an effective insulator, which helps regulate your body temperature.
Fat cells don't just remain passive, waiting for their moment of glory. Every day, fat tissue works to control essential biological functions. There are two types of fat: essential fat - which makes up the membranes of our bodies' cell building blocks - and non-essential, or storage fat. Storage fat is the fat referred to when acknowledging weight gain, as this tissue is stored beneath the skin. But storage fat also holds essential functions, such as releasing chemical messengers called hormones to interact with other organs. In doing this, the fat itself is responsible for managing its own levels. When you have eaten too much, fat sends a message to the brain that you don't need any more food, preventing too much extra body fat being added.
More than a billion people in the world live with obesity. By taking a closer look at the function of fat, the causes of fat gain and the pitfalls of unhealthy fat tissue, scientists can get closer to understanding the complexities of this organ and the broader causes of the obesity epidemic.
Did you know?
Just 1 in 340 people carry the MC4R gene
This story is from the Issue 194 edition of How It Works UK.
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