The following Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson,

and is narrated by Tina Lehman.

Why the kind of body fat you carry matters.

All fats are not created equal. We know this because

we're constantly correcting people who get it wrong. There are good fats and bad fats and really

bad fats and fats that are conditionally good or bad. Butter isn't corn oil, isn't fish oil,

isn't mono-unsaturated fat, isn't palmitoleic fat, isn't linoleic acid.

Sometimes trans fat isn't even trans fat.

The same thing applies to the fat on your body.

Depending on its location and composition, healthfulness isn't distributed equally among adipose tissue.

Some types of body fat are worse than others.

Fat is an endocrine organ. Like any other organ, it secretes hormones and other bioactive

compounds that affect our physiology and determine our health.

Subcutaneous fat sits just below your skin. It's the most conspicuous and least aesthetically

pleasing fat, comprising love handles and big droopy bellies, saggy arms, and flabby necks.

But it's less actively harmful than many other types of body fat. Subcutaneous fat is the primary

secretor of leptin, a strong regulator of appetite and metabolism,

and of adiponectin, a marker for metabolic health with potentially anti-authorosclerotic effects.

Gluteophomoral fat is lower body fat, specifically the stuff that sits on your butt, hips, and thighs. In women,

its presence indicates and may even determine good metabolic health. And it may not just be a

signal for health, but an actor. Fat depose on the butt and hips actively secrete greater amounts

of palmetolayic acid, PDF, a fatty acid with insulin

...