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Fit or Fiction: Are Pear-Shapes Healthier Than Apples?
Posted on Jun 29th 2010 1:00PM by Liz NeporentFiled Under: Diet & Weight Loss, Fit or Fiction
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Especially in summer, much of what you read about being apple-shaped (storing your excess fat around your middle) or pear-shaped (extra junk in the trunk) tends to be about (a) how to dress to look your best or (b) the right workout to do for your body type. If you've read a little deeper into the literature beyond the usual butt and gut articles, you may have even heard that pears are healthier than their apple counterparts. Well, recent research from a group of scientists at Oxford University provides evidence that fat stored below the waist is even more protective of your health than previously thought.
Over all, fat is the body's way of storing excess energy. However, the location it gets stored does change the way it is used in your body and how your body responds to it. It has long been known, for example, that when abdominal fat releases its fat cells many head straight to the liver as repackaged artery-clogging triglycerides and LDL cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol) and put strain on the heart and other organs which can contribute to diabetes and hypertension. Hip and thigh fat, on the other hand, sits just underneath the skin, more or less minding its own business and mostly staying out of the blood's circulation.
So, while you may not love trying to squeeze your saddlebags into a pair of skinny jeans, the fact that they don't release fat cells into the bloodstream is generally the reason they are considered to be healthier than the type of fat that doesn't look so hot in a midriff top.
A recent study from the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism takes this notion a step further. It surmises that lower body fat isn't just less unhealthy than belly fat; it may actually offer some health benefits by capturing some of those roaming free fatty acids and stopping them from migrating toward your internal organs where they do their real damage. Also, the fatty tissue in the lower body tends to release hormones -- leptin and adiponectin -- that are thought to be beneficial to your metabolism. The Oxford investigative team goes on to point out that lower body fat loss (as in the kind that occurs with conditions like Cushing's syndrome or lipodystrophy) is associated with increased cardiovascular and metabolic risk.
Does all this mean big-bottomed girls should scrap the beach body blast workout routine in favor of a trip to Carvel? Well, not so fast Cookie Puss. You may want to consider that as you age, more of your fat tends to migrate towards your internal organs no matter what, and for most women, there's a general change from lower body fat storage to abdominal fat storage that occurs after menopause.
Also, the news on hip-and-thigh fat is not all favorable, with some emerging evidence showing that it may up the risk of blood clots. That being said, if you're a healthy and toned pear-shape, you may find yourself occasionally opting for the full-fat Rocky Road at the beach this summer instead of the low-fat fro-yo.
And how about these apples? If you're looking for some good fat blaster workouts, here are two good ones, just off the top of my head: The 15-minute Fat Blaster Circuit and Walk Off the Belly Fat. As for me, I'm a cross between a string bean and a pumpkin -- whatever that means!
All kidding aside, I never believed anyone is just one body type or another. So let me hear from all of you bananas and mangoes out there. What are your trouble zones? And what are you doing about them? Also, if you've got a health question you'd like answered or a myth you'd like busted wide open, post it here or tweet me @lizzyfit.
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