Fat thighs may benefit health, say researchers
By Carey Goldberg, Globe Staff | August 13, 2005
For all the women who look down on their ample thighs with loathing: Fret no more. There is new reason to love that dimpled plumpness. For many people, mainly women, fat on legs, hips, and buttocks may actually help ward off heart disease and diabetes, recent research suggests.
University of Colorado researchers reported this week that in a study of 95 women past menopause, being bottom-heavy was linked to better scores on several ominous markers in the blood, including triglycerides and high sugar levels. When women were also heavy above the waist, most advantages of the leg fat vanished, but thick thighs still improved their scores on triglycerides, potentially harmful fats in the blood.
''Our body of research, as well as some others, suggest that leg fat is good fat," said Rachael Van Pelt, the lead researcher on this week's study in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. ''It's protective, at least with respect to the risk factors we've looked at."
Researchers are not sure exactly why leg fat carries benefits, but this latest study complements the growing understanding that all fat is not alike. In recent years it has become clearer that ''visceral fat," which wraps around organs and swells waistlines, poses the greatest health danger, while ''peripheral fat" on arms and legs is more benign and, according to recent research, may even be helpful.
Researchers caution that their work does not translate into advice to gain or retain excess weight.
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