Fat Gets To Your Gut Faster Than Previously Believed

Michael Harper for RedOrbit.com

You remember the old phrase “A moment on your lips, a lifetime on the hips?”

The saying quoted by doting mothers and grandmothers everywhere is usually the last thing we hear before shoving a piece of cake into our mouths, begging the food gods to silence the inner voices.

No one needs to be told that the fat we ingest turns into fat in our bodies. Going even further, it´s common knowledge that the fattier the food — and usually the more delicious the food — the worse it will eventually be for us. Despite this, those ever curious scientists couldn´t leave well enough alone and decided to give us even more reason to tentatively approach the dinner table.

In a story which could either be taken as good news or bad news, a new report suggests the fat we ingest from foods can wind up in our midsections within hours of eating.

Good news for those who thought they were going crazy as they loosened their belt after a meal, bad news for everyone else.

According to researchers at Oxford University, the equivalent of 2 to 3 teaspoons of whatever you are eating can end up on your waist much quicker than previously thought. Not to be outdone, your hips, thighs and rear-end will begin to plump up if you continue to overeat, just like your mother always said it would.

Fredrik Karpe and Keith Frayne conducted the study, and found the first fat from any meal arrives in the blood within one hour of ingestion.

After 3 to 4 hours, the researchers found most of the fat had been adopted by the adipose tissue near the waist, where most short-term fat ends up.

Karpe and Frayne´s paper has been published in the Physiological Reviews.

If you´re wondering why such a study was conducted, it turns out there may have been some method to their utter madness.

Thanks to their research, we now have a better understanding of the way fat works. The fact that overeating and eating fatty foods adds mass to your gut is clearly nothing new. What makes this study different is the speed at which this fat travels from your mouth to your blood to your waistline.

According to the Telegraph,  Karpe, a professor of metabolic medicine, says, “The process is very fast. The cells in the adipose tissue around the waist catch the fat droplets as the blood carries them and incorporates them into the cells for storage.”

“If you eat too much, you don´t get into this phase of starting to mobilize it. There will just be constant accumulation and you will start to put on weight.”

Not feeling guilty yet? The research also shows that fit people are better suited to get rid of this fat that their overweight counterparts. As it turns out, exercise helps keep the pounds off for a longer period of time, as the workout turns your body into a fat-burning machine.

So, while we may continue to try and utilize fancy pills and machines which promise maximum results with minimal effort, it seems the best approach for weight loss may be the tried and true method of eating less and exercising more. After all, if scientists say it´s true, then it must be true, right?

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