Should You Want More Brown Fat On Your Body?
Our understanding of fat has changed enormously over the past few years. First, we learned that, despite what all those high-priced, low-fat snack foods would have us believe, dietary fat does not equal body fat (calories do – as Jillian Michaels tells Organic Authority). Then, we learned that there were multiple kinds of dietary fat, including “bad” trans fats and “good” polyunsaturated fats (in avocado, olive oil, and more). But now a new study – the largest of its kind conducted in humans – has confirmed that dietary fat isn’t the only one that boasts different types: body fat, too, can be broken into good fat and bad fat – and the good could save your life.
Body fat is an all-too-frequent woe. While many spend an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to rid their bodies of fat, some adipose tissue is necessary for health, particularly for women. Most body fat in adults is known as white fat: this is the stubborn kind most of us feel we could stand to lose a bit of. But not all fat is white. Brown fat, unlike white fat, is more metabolically active and is composed of higher amounts of mitochondria. It helps maintain body temperature by producing heat, and, according to MyNetDiary’s Registered Dietitian, Sue Heikkinen who has 20+ years’ experience providing nutrition counseling & education, it is “essential to hibernating animals.”
Excerpted from Organic Authority
