Fat has more uses than we once thought and the body stores different types of body fat. Once considered useless brown fat has since been rediscovered and is actually a powerful incinerator which burns up white fat for energy.

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

2.  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.

3. White Fat
Brown Fat

4.  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.

5. “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.

6.  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

7.  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.

8. 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.

9.  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.

10. 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 Joslin
Diabetes Center

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

15. “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. ·

16. “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.

17. 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.

18.  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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