Posted on 05/11/2007 7:30:30 PM PDT by melt
(AP) 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 like the heart, liver or pancreas invisible to the naked eye could be as dangerous as the more obvious external fat that bulges underneath the skin.
Being thin doesn't automatically mean you're not fat, said Dr. Jimmy Bell, a professor of molecular imaging at Imperial College, London. Since 1994, Bell and his team have scanned nearly 800 people with MRI machines to create fat maps showing where people store fat.
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. The whole concept of being fat needs to be redefined, said Bell, whose research is funded by Britain's Medical Research Council.
Without a clear warning signal like a rounder middle doctors worry that thin people may be lulled into falsely assuming that because they're not overweight, they're healthy.
Just because someone is lean doesn't make them immune to diabetes or other risk factors for heart disease, said Dr. Louis Teichholz, chief of cardiology at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, who was not involved in Bell's research.
Even people with normal Body Mass Index scores a standard obesity measure that divides your weight by the square of your height can have surprising levels of fat deposits inside.
Of the women scanned by Bell and his colleagues, as many as 45 percent of those with normal BMI scores (20 to 25) actually had excessive levels of internal fat. Among men, the percentage was nearly 60 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Oh no! You mean that if I'm not careful--- this could be the "inner me"?
Does the stripe across his trunks make him look thin??
After spending years losing weight, I now find that I might be fat inside. One wonders why one even tries Eat, drink and be marry, for tomorrow you may die.
My inner fat man burst out through my belly when I hit the 50’s.
Amen.
I know some thin people who are fat heads.
Yes. And I know some people who are just as fat-headed on the inside--- as they are fat-headed on the outside.
Jane Fonda...
... and her "inner self"...
Thanks for the egoboo, and kudos for the brilliant analysis.
Awww! Poor little two-dimensional kitty!
"Being thin doesn't automatically mean you're not fat," said Dr. Jimmy Bell......as he tore the shrinkwrap off the new daily planner he'll need to keep track of his talk show appearances.
I want to hear about the fat people who exercise and are therefore thin inside.
One recent development — people with normal range (or lower than average) blood pressure are now called “pre-hypertensive”.
If you are fat on the outside and thin on the inside there may be some space left over. However, if you are thin on the outside and fat on the inside, things may get a bit crowded.
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