10 Things You Need To Know About 'FAT'

Guess what? Fat isn’t entirely bad for you!.

Fat – we all have it. Some have a little, some have a lot – but most of us do not know much about it. Here are 10 important facts about fat to inform and amaze you – and yes, help you get rid of it too!

We Need Some Fat To Be Healthy

“The average woman carries about 20 to 25kg of fat,” says Dr Jarrod Meerkin from Sydney’s MeasureUp, a body composition scanning service. “The fat provides back-up energy when blood sugar runs out. It insulates the skin from cold and heat, and transports nutrients across cell membranes. It also provides building blocks for hormones.”

Fat Is Part Of Your Immune System…

… but even scientists did not know that until earlier this year. It seems the subcutaneous fat that lies just under the skin’s surface actively protects us against invaders. Within hours of exposing an area of skin to staphylococcus aureus bacteria in a lab, fat cells around the site were producing antimicrobial chemicals to kill the bug.

The moral of this story: Low body fat is healthy – but very low body fat is not better.

“A normal body fat percentage for women should be about 21 to 33 percent, depending on your age,” says Dr Jarrod.

Throw Away Your Scales And Get Some String

Normal scales do not reveal your body fat level – and even those that do show your percentage do not tell the whole story.

What matters for health is not just what percentage of fat you have, but where you carry it. Fat around the middle is more dangerous than fat around your hips and thighs because what matters for health is not just what percentage of fat you have, but where you carry it. Fat around the middle is more dangerous than fat around your hips and thighs.