Report on fat: Junk in trunk healthier than spare tire The junk
in your trunk may be healthier than your spare tire. It turns
out that fat stored in the butt, hips and thighs can be
beneficial, especially as compared with stomach fat, according
to researchers from Oxford University. Writing in the
International Journal of Obesity, the team showed that waist fat
releases molecules linked to heart disease and diabetes, while
people with “pear shaped” bodies trap their fatty acids, which
prevents harmful molecules from circulating in the blood. “The
idea that body fat distribution is important to health has been
known for some time,” Dr. Konstantinos Manolopoulos, one of the
paper’s authors, said in a statement released by Oxford.
“However, it is only very recently that thigh fat and a larger
hip circumference have been shown to promote health, that lower
body fat is protective by itself.” This is good news for women,
who tend to store their fat below the waist, as opposed to men,
whose bellies bear the brunt of