4 ms·
"The number of fat cells becomes fixed by the end of adolescence." Uh, reference? I think you're wrong there. From what I remember, new fat cells grow when wei
by a-priori 18y ago
"The number of fat cells becomes fixed by the end of adolescence."
Uh, reference? I think you're wrong there. From what I remember, new fat cells grow when weight is gained, and are "deflated", but mostly survive, when weight is lost.
- attack 18y agoHe's probably thinking of human muscle cells.
- flipbrad 18y agono - he's absolutely correct. this was discovered earlier this year, IIRC. cf: http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54629/ http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54629/
- randallsquared 18y agoThis suggests that liposuction is actually an important step if you want to keep fat off.
- flipbrad 18y agonot necessarily. if the body can somehow keep count, it may just replace the cells you remove. I'm not sure we know for certain either way yet.
- randallsquared 18y agoMy guess would be that that won't happen any more than limbs get regrown. Of course, my guess is pretty worthless. :)
- attack 18y agoAnswer: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/health/research/05fat.html?_r=1&oref=slogin http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/health/research/05fat.html... > Losing or gaining weight affects only the amount of fat stored in the cells, not the number of cells. BUT > Every year [..] 10 percent of your fat cells die [...] and are replaced with new fat cells. So, fat people aren't at a disadvantage by having far more cells.
- flipbrad 18y agoyour skin certainly knows where and when to (re)grow...