White Fat or Brown Fat

Do you hear these terms bandied around, but you're not sure what they mean?

Well, if you're like me, you have heard of them, but need them explained in plain language.

This is as simple as I understand it to be:

Brown Fat

This is the GOOD Fat. Brown fat is the fat that the body burns when it needs energy.  So we use this up, helping us to remove the fat from our bodies

White Fat

This is the BAD Fat. White fat is the fat that the body stores.  It's the fat that seems to accumulate on our hips, thighs and stomach area!  We need to convert this to the Brown Fat, so it can be used up.

The interesting thing is how the body does this.  We have an appetite suppressing enzyme (measures our current fat reserves) and an enzyme that monitors how much sugar we have coming into our body (measures our future fat reserves).  

These enzymes/hormones play a role in keeping our body at the required fat levels when they work together and trigger other actions in the body to convert the white fat to brown fat!  Simples!!

Photo from: www.freedigitalphotos.net, Mister GC