The truth about the different types of body fat found on the body.

White fat - is much more plentiful than brown, experts agree. The job of white fat is to store energy and produce hormones that are then secreted into the bloodstream.

Brown fat unlike white fat, brown fat burns calories instead of storing it and it is now thought to be more like muscle than like white fat. When activated, brown fat burns white fat.

Subcutaneous Fat – lies underneath the skin “The Inch you can pinch”, the fat which you can physically grab

Visceral Fat – Lies underneath muscle tissue and wraps its self around internal organs like your heart and liver.

Belly fat both subcutaneous and visceral

Retroperitoneal Fat – which is found behind the abdomen along the back

Perivascular fat is a type of fat which clumps around your arteries leading to your heart.

White Fat

Brown Fat

White fat is much more plentiful than brown, experts agree. The job of white fat is to store energy and produce hormones that are then secreted into the bloodstream.

Small fat cells produce a "good guy" hormone called adiponectin, which makes the liver and muscles sensitive to the hormone insulin, in the process making us less susceptible to diabetes and heart disease.

“Unlike white fat, brown fat burns calories instead of storing them, and some studies have shown that brown fat has beneficial effects on glucose (blood sugar) tolerance, fat metabolism and body weight”. says Kristen Gill Hairston, MD, MPH,

an assistant professor of medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, N.C.

Brown fat is now thought to be more like muscle than like white fat. When activated, brown fat burns white fat. Brown fat cells are considered “good fat” because they burn energy and keep body temperature regulated. People with a lower body mass index (BMI) tend to have more brown fat cells than people with higher BMIs.

Although leaner adults have more brown fat than heavier people, even their brown fat cells are greatly outnumbered by white fat cells. "A 150-pound person might have 20 or 30 pounds of fat," "They are only going to have 2 or 3 ounces of brown fat.“

“2 ounces of brown fat, if maximally stimulated, could burn off 300 to 500 calories a day -- enough to lose up to a pound in a week.” Says Aaron Cypress,MD,PHD, an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical

School and research associate at the Jaslin Diabetes centre in Boston

new studies in the New England Journal of Medicine now show that more than half of adult men and women have enough brown fat in their bodies to burn off substantial amounts of white fat -- if the brown fat somehow is stimulated.

For example, Kirsi A. Virtanen, MD, PhD, of the University of Turku, Finland, and colleagues analyzed brown fat in five young men. One of the men had about 2.2 ounces of brown fat.

"If the brown [fat] in this example were fully activated, it would burn an amount of energy equivalent to approximately 4.1 kilograms [9 pounds]" of fat over the course of a year, the researchers calculate.

And that's a low estimate, as this assumes only 50% activation of the brown fat.

Brown fat becomes activated when you're cold.Virtanen and colleagues took advantage of this in their study:

The five volunteers underwent PET scans after spending two hours under-dressed in a cold room, with one foot soaking intermittently in a bucket of ice water. Activated brown fat

burns white fat as fuel. It's a very inefficient process that gives off

heat -- and consumes a lot of fat.

Cold temperatures may raise levels of calorie-burning "brown fat" in your body, a new study conducted with mice suggests.

Unlike white fat, brown fat burns calories instead of storing them, and some studies have shown that brown fat has beneficial effects on glucose (blood sugar) tolerance, fat

metabolism and body weight.

research has shown that "outdoor workers in northern Finland who are exposed to cold temperatures have a significant amount of brown fat when compared to same-aged indoor workers," Sul said. Study co-lead author Jon Dempersmier, a Ph.D. student in nutritional science and toxicology at Berkeley, explained, "Brown fat is active, using up calories to keep the body warm.""It'll burn fat, it'll burn glucose. So the idea is that if we can harness this, we can try to use this in therapy for weight loss and for diabetes," he said in the news release.

BROWN FAT IS STORED IN THE NECK SHOULDERS AND DOWN THE BACK OF THE SPINE

FIGHTING OBESITY: NEW HOPES FROM BROWN FAT POSTED ON NOVEMBER 12,

2013 BY DR. FRANCIS COLLINS

Artist rendition of a x-ray showing brown fat as glowing green

Caption: Brown fat actually marked in green on this image is wrapped around the neck and shoulders.

This “shawl” of brown fat warms blood before it travels to the brain.

Illustration: John MacNeill, based on patient imaging software designed by Ilan Tal. Copyright 2011 JoslinDiabetes Center

Hormone to Fight Obesity?

Cell biologists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have discovered a new hormone called irisin, which is

produced during exercise, and has been shown to help turn white fat

into brown fat. “Brown fat actually burns calories,” Dr. Travis says. Although it’s in very

early stages, scientists are attempting to develop an irisin pill to help fight obesity and other weight-

related complications.

SUBCUTANEOUS FAT IS BODY FAT THAT IS CLOSE TO THE SKIN'S SURFACE AND IS CONSIDERED LESS DANGEROUS, AND EASIER TO LOSE, THAN VISCERAL FAT.

VISCERAL FAT IS HARDER TO LOSE THAN SUBCUTANEOUS FAT BECAUSE IT IS MORE DEEPLY EMBEDDED IN THE BODY'S TISSUES.

SUBCUTANEOUS FAT ACCUMULATES SLOWLY OVER TIME AND CAN BE VERY HARD TO GET RID OF

ONCE IT IS STORED.SUBCUTANEOUS FAT IS

“THE INCH YOU CAN PINCH”

subcutaneous fat is the fatty or adipose tissue lying directly under the skin layers. It contains not only fatty tissues but also blood vessels, which supply the skin with oxygen, and nerves.

Subcutaneous fat is a shock absorber, helping to cushion our skin against trauma, and also stores energy, which the body uses during periods of high activity.

Subcutaneous fat differs from fat that lies deeper in the body and cushions our organs. This is called visceral fat. Subcutaneous fat, on the other hand is the fat we most see lying under the skin. Too much fat can cause the skin to become tight or stretched, and result in dreaded cellulite or a dimpled look of the skin. When subcutaneous fat is relatively small in amount, it tends to lie loosely under the skin layers and is thus less visible.

Not all subcutaneous fat is bad, or contributes to what some people consider unsightly. In fact, many people have fat injections to plump out their face and reduce the look of wrinkles. So as much as some of us may battle subcutaneous fat that contributes to notable cellulite, many others seek subcutaneous fat injections to maintain younger looking faces, or hands.

“Perivascular fat is a type of fat which clumps around your arteries leading to your heart. Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have recently begun looking into this type of fat and its effects on humans. Their studies are showing something totally remarkable and potentially thought-changing in the medical world. Their studies have shown that perivascular fat growing around your arteries is actually causing the disease on the inside. This specific type of fat seems to be loaded with inflammatory cells, even more so than visceral fat.” Reducing Hidden Fat, The Easy Solutions

October 1, 2012 · by RxWhey · in Blog, Nutrition. ·

“Abdominal fat is viewed as a bigger health risk than hip or thighs

fat, and other experts say. And that could mean having a worse effect on

insulin resistance, boosting the risk of diabetes, and a worse effect on blood lipids, boosting heart and stroke risks.”

“Abdominal fat is also closely associated with increased LDL and decreased

HDL cholesterol levels, as well as breast cancer, endometrial cancer, and colorectal cancer.”

“If you have an oversized belly, figuring out how much is visceral and how much is subcutaneous isn't as important as recognizing a big belly is unhealthy”

“How big is too big?” Women with a waist circumference more

than 35 inches and men with a waist circumference more than 40 inches are at increased disease risk. says Kristen Gill Hairston, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of medicine at Wake

Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, N.C.

As nutrition is taken into the body, the excess dietary fat, called triglycerides, are stored inside the adipocytes.

Over time, if the body does not use the material for fuel, it will be stored in the cell on a long-term basis. The more storage, the larger the cell becomes.

No new cells are created, nor old ones destroyed. They simply just change size and shape. Carbohydrates and proteins can also be converted into storage forms if they are not used immediately, contributing to the growth of the cell.

The only way to reduce the size of the cell is to burn the fat as fuel.

http://directorsblog.nih.gov/2013/03/26/brown-fat-white-fat-good-fat-bad-fat/

Brown Fat, White Fat, Good Fat, Bad Fat

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Dr. Francis Collins

http://www.thevisualmd.com/read_videoguide/?idu=1083609339&q=%20subcutaneous%20fat

Article Details Written By: Tricia Ellis-Christensen Edited By: O. Wallace Last Modified Date: 14 January 2015 Copyright Protected: 2003-2015 Conjecture Corporation Print this Article in wiseGeek

SOURCES:

Susan Fried, PhD, director, Boston Obesity and Nutrition Research Center, Boston University.

Aaron Cypess, MD, PhD, instructor, Harvard Medical School; research associate, Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston.

Kristen Gill Hairston, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, N.C.

Rachel Whitmer, PhD, research scientist, Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Oakland, Calif.

WebMD Health News: "Belly Fat in Midlife, Dementia Later?"

WebMD Health News: "Can Brown Fat Make You Thin?"

WebMD Health News: "Brown Fat: New Key to Weight Loss?"

Cypess, A. New England Journal of Medicine; vol 360: pp 1509-1517.

Celi, F.S. New England Journal of Medicine; vol 360: pp 1553-1556.

Van Marken Lichtenbelt, W.D. New England Journal of Medicine; vol 360: pp 1500-1508.

Virtanen, K.A. New England Journal of Medicine; vol 360: pp 1518-1525.

Whitmer, RA. Neurology; vol 71: pp 1057-64.

Reviewed on July 13, 2009

© 2009 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.

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