Bodytalk
Question: Is the number of fat cells in a person's body important in determining his or her weight and ability to lose weight? How do we develop fat cells? Maintaining healthy
body weight is vitalAnswer: Excess calories (ones that are not burned off as energy) get stored in our bodies as fat. There are two ways our bodies store fat.
First, we fill up the fat cells we already have; and second, when existing cells are filled to capacity, our body simply manufactures new ones. In early childhood and during adolescence, development of fat cells occurs naturally as part of regular growth.
Obese people, as compared to people of normal weight, have a far greater number of fat cells, and each cell can store about 33 percent more fat within its walls. When heavy people diet, the diameter of their fat cells decreases, but the number of fat cells remains constant. This may be one reason why people who were formerly overweight have such a difficult time maintaining a healthy body weight. Once you've developed fat cells, they cry to be filled up.
Whether people are overweight or not, when they grossly overeat their stores of body fat increase, and the size and number of their fat cells also increase. Moderate weight gain will not cause more fat cells to develop, but continued overeating will eventually fill existing cells.
Once the existing fat cells reach maximal size, new cells will develop.
Avoiding that is critical to weight management, since having extra fat cells makes it more difficult to lose weight and maintain a healthy body weight.
It's especially important for toddlers and adolescents to maintain a healthy weight because it's at these two stages of growth that fat cells proliferate naturally; you don't want to further accelerate that process!
Living an active life and eating a well-balanced, sensible diet always has been and still is the most effective way to reach and maintain a healthy body weight.
Q: Are cholesterol and triglycerides the same thing?
A: Triglycerides are the form in which your body stores fat. Ninety-five percent of dietary fat consists of complex molecules called triglycerides, which in turn are made up of three smaller substances called fatty acids.
Cholesterol is not really a fat, although it exhibits some of the characteristics of fat. Cholesterol comes from two sources: one, it's manufactured in the body and, two, dietary cholesterol is obtained from foods of animal origin. In the human body, cholesterol is found in the blood and body tissues.
Both are vital to the healthy functioning of the body.
Triglycerides (fat) provide the body with insulation, shock absorption and energy and are necessary for the absorption of fat soluble vitamins.
Cholesterol is essential for the production of steroid hormones, vitamin D and bile. Of course, having too much body fat (triglycerides) or cholesterol carries many health risks. Among the primary ones, high levels of triglycerides and cholesterol both increase the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, adult onset diabetes, and stroke.
Too much cholesterol in the blood also can lead to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), and too much body fat increases the risk of developing some cancers.
Stephenie Karony is a certified health
and fitness instructor, a personal trainer and the author of
"Body Shaping with Free Weights." Send questions to her at
P.O. Box 262, Wailuku Hi. Her column appears on Wednesdays.