Fat - 20 Things You Might Not Know

by Jacki Donaldson (Subscribe to Jacki Donaldson's posts)
Dec 29th 2008 2:00PM

Categories: Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Nutrition & Supplements

There are at least 20 things you probably don't know about fat. That's what the editors at Discover magazine think and why they published this list in their January 2009 issue.

You're more likely to inherit obesity than schizophrenia, high blood pressure and alcoholism.
Regularly eat breakfast or dinner in restaurants? Watch out -- you're doubling your risk of becoming obese.
Cutting saturated fat intake to the recommended 10 percent of your calories will prolong your life -- but only by a few months.
The brain is about 70 percent fat.
California was the only state not getting fatter, as of 2007.
Adults should eat between 2,000 and 3,000 calories per day. But U.S agriculture produces 3,900 calories of food per day per inhabitant.
Liposuction is the only way to reduce the number of fat cells in your body. Diet and exercise only shrink them.
Lipo may make you look better, but it won't remove fat from around your internal organs, so your fat-related health risks do not change.
The total number of fat cells in your body remains constant once you reach adulthood. Even after radical weight-loss surgery, fat cells return to their pre-surgery numbers within two years.
One man used his liposuctioned fat to power the world's fastest eco-boat.

About 10 percent of a person's fat cells die over the course of one year. But the body quickly replaces them.
Fifty-billion dollars is spent on diet programs every year.
People who lose just 10 percent of their body weight report better sex lives.
Being overweight reduces a woman's chances of becoming pregnant.
Obesity is one reason the fastest-growing group of women experiencing infertility is under 25.
Biology is trying to help us trim down -- the hormone leptin is pumped into our bloodstream by fat cells. The more fat you have, the more leptin you make, the less hungry you feel.
Leptin never could be bottled as a diet aid, because most overweight people have become insensitive to it.
Bottlenose dophins use fatty tissue in the head to focus sound waves -- it gives them their sonar ability.
Whales are wrapped in fat -- it's vital for insulation and is sometimes up to 20 inches in thickness.
Camel's don't need insulation -- they trap their fat in their humps to keep it out of the way.

One would assume this is all pretty factual stuff. I mean, it does come from a scientific magazine. What do you think? Do you dispute any of these fatty facts?

Comments (4)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

fooducate 12-29-2008 @ 3:55PM

If you were wondering about the different fats in food:
http://www.fooducate.com/blog/fast-facts-about-fats-and-oils/

Morgemil 12-29-2008 @ 8:58PM

so...get liposuction? and then save the juices to heat my home?

You don't inherit obesity- you inherit tendencies that only manifest themselves if you eat way more calories than you need without exercising.
Kids learn eating habits from their parents, so obviously fat parents=fat kids.

mj 2-25-2009 @ 1:05PM

You don't "inherit obesity" - obesity is caused both by Nature AND Nurture. While you may have the genes that have a propensity towards obesity, the reason someone is obese is due to increase caloric intake versus caloric output.