Wait, but seriously:
Researchers already knew abdominal obesity came with a higher risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
What Kahn wanted to know was what would happen if the fat from
the two areas was switched. So he injected lower-body fat from mice
into their abdomens.
“What we found was that moving the fat under the skin and hips...actually improved metabolism,” Kahn said in an interview.
Mice with the transplanted fat lost weight, had lower insulin levels, and had better insulin sensitivity.
Kahn had found that not all fat is created equal: subcutaneous
fat from the lower body, it turns out, is very different from abdominal
fat.
What the difference is, exactly, has yet to be discovered.
That kind of finding would have “enormous implications” for the
understanding of obesity and diabetes and for the pharmaceutical
industry, said Philip Gorden, the former director of the National
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Those who aren’t fortunate enough to be callipygian, however, can’t do much.
