There’s good fat for us and bad fat for us. Brown is good, and white is bad. Some new research has been done, and it seems obese people may be lacking brown fat.

Brown fat is what newborn babies have, and it helps keep us warm. Apparently, adults have it around their neck. Here’s the Article: Brown Fat and Obese People.

Here’s what they have to say about it:

“Brown adipose tissue is different from white fat pads. It contains loads of mitochondria, miniature power stations which among other things can ‘burn’ fat. In doing this, they normally generate a voltage similar to that of a battery, which then provides energy for cellular processes. However, the mitochondria of brown fat cells have a short circuit. They go full steam ahead all the time. The energy released when the fat is broken down is released as heat.” – Science Daily

Another great thing about this fat is that is helps raise our basal metabolic rate by 20%. It heats up more than white fat, and so is better for us. Obese people may be lacking this.

I’ve been doing a lot of obese reasearch lately, and there always seems to be a scientific explanation of why people are obese. Their bodies lack certain bacteria, it’s something in the hypothalamus, or they don’t have enough brown fat.

I wonder if having a bad diet and lack of exercise can lead to some of these imbalances in the body. I do believe that genes play a large role. I’d like to see  a study of a random cross sampling of obese people, and have their lifestlye analyzed in addition to what the research has found.

Do genes really play that huge of a role in our weight levels?

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