Fat in the Firing Line

There has been a recent discovery that might lead to a 'natural' cure to obesity. The discovery of brown fat in adult humans. Hitherto this magic fat was found to reside only amongst children and adolescents, and animals (rats have it in plenty, apparently) - we all have heard about it - as puppy fat. The reason why it has excited the researchers is because brown fat is capable of being used to 'burn up calories'. It very literally gets consumed when the host gets busy; in fact it also gets used up to combat cold. So the really lazy blimps amongst us (superfluous use of lazy, you reckon?) can turn up the air-conditioning and call it exercising.

So what other kind of fat is there? Most adult bodies were so far thought to contain only white fat - the stuff of legends that wobbles over the six-pack and jig-jigs under every thundery thigh. This fat, unlike the brown variety is used by the body as reserve. It is probably the remnant from a time where ice-age meant that most mammals would starve for 6 months, hence needed a mechanism to ensure that they survived till spring (bears and whales still do it). This is the reason why white fat is so bloody tenacious - it sticks like a limpet to the tummy no matter how hard you exercise. Of course it also depends upon individual body-types. All of us who are adiposally challenged have painful memories of that person who would nonchalantly toss with a light laugh, 5 pineapple-cream pastries, 4 floating aalu parathas, a gargantuan slab of Dairy Milk and a tubful of ice-cream down the hatch and yet be rake thin. Yes, these misbegotten children of Beelzebub have more brown fat than white. Which is why when they walk they burn fat, when they shake a leg on the dance-floor they burn fat, when they frisk and frolic they burn fat; when they energetically shove all that food in they burn fat, and even when they feel cold they burn fat.

And no, there is no justice in the world for people with white fat. But finally there is hope. Researchers feel that if they are able to trigger the human body to produce more brown fat than white then it will become easier to control obesity. Will researchers be able to find a way to convert white to brown? This point is moot - its too early to comment.

One might say what is the big deal in being generously built? After all many cultures prize 'traditionally built' people, where the show of paunch is seen as a sign of prosperity. Well, the popular culture in most parts of the world now tends to portray slimness and athleticism as the healthier body-type. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that extra weight attracts ill-health. Its better to be slim than be sorry.

And most importantly, it's the willowy guys and gals who get the most dates.

Now that we have our priorities in place we await the day when the wonder pill will give us the freedom from the tyranny of the gym, tearing the shackles of the guilt of looking in a lascivious way at a plateful of fries. Ah! the day of deliverance! When will the sea part again!