Sunday, May 13, 2007

Thin Outside and Fat Inside

A small article in h daily AM paper caught my attention. “Diet: Thin People May be Fat Inside”. I have thought this countless times. I was at someone’s home last year. She was thin. On second look, she was flabby. This or straight does not mean fit, especially if one has excess fat in their waist area when they are straight elsewhere. I searched the concept on Yahoo! and right away came up with a news article form medical writer Marcia Cheng. A body fat index may not even be reliable, the article on Yahoo! news writes.

Cheng's article was about a London study of 800 people, who were given magnetic resonance imaging. Internal fat deposits, including around organs, were detected, although these people looked thin on the outside. In fact, Dr. Jimmy Bell, a professor of molecular imaging at Imperial College, London, said: Being thin doesn't automatically mean you're not fat."

Physicians believe that exercise is vital in maintaining and good weight without having big fat deposits inside. Physicians are not exactly sure of the dangers of internal fat, but many believe that it contributes to heart disease.

Here is the link to the Yahoo! news article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070510/ap_on_he_me/thin_fat_people .

Here is the small AM news article: “If it really is what’s on the inside that counts, then a lot of thin people might be in trouble. Some doctors now think that the internal fat surrounding vital organs such as the heart, liver or pancreas could be as dangerous as the more obvious external fat that bulges underneath eh skin.

“Being thin doesn’t automatically y mean you’re not fat,” said Dr. Jimmy Bell, a professor of molecular imaging at Imperial College, London.

According to the data, people who maintain their weight through diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim.

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