Fun, Facts & Fitness from Mary Morris MSc.
The amount of body fat we carry around every day is rather a sensitive issue, particularly if we think we are carrying too much of it! There is an obsession, particularly across the media that we need to lose fat... and fast! However, it is a very complex issue and it is very important that we have the right amount of fat in our body in order to be healthy. So let's clarify some of the most important facts so that we can begin to understand just what a vital role fat has in the body, particularly in reducing our risk of serious illness.
Why do we need body fat?
We might moan about being able to 'pinch more than an inch' but that fat is not an inert lump of lard – it has an important job to do, and scientists are starting to find out more about its hidden powers. The fatty tissue lying just underneath our skin plays a vital role in keeping us alive and healthy. Apart from insulating us from the cold and cushioning any impact on our body, it is most importantly our energy storer for times when we may be unwell and struggling to eat normally.
On a recent ‘coffee stop’ on one of my regular walks, the conversation centred around the thickening waistline we have to suffer now that we are all of a certain age. The entire group were clearly very disturbed by it, bearing in mind that the majority of them have been fit and slim for most of their adult lives and their tummy fat now seems totally out of control!
One little voice did pipe up from one of the 80-year-olds who said that hers had quite suddenly all disappeared since suffering recurring UTIs which left her drained of energy. And herein lies a very important message... we do need a decent 'store' of body fat as we get older as a valuable energy reserve, in case we become ill or maybe have a fall that takes us off our feet for a significant period of time. The result being that we will automatically lose a lot of our precious muscle due to suddenly being very sedentary which sadly can mean that we may become exceedingly frail very quickly. A good level of body fat therefore becomes our insurance policy against frailty.
How much body fat is too much?
It is only in recent decades that we have seen a huge rise in energy-dense (high-calorie) foods that cause us to store more body fat than we need. The culprit is often those fast-food outlets that create 'hard to resist' foods, massively increasing our intake of the type of dietary fat that is not good for us.
Our bodies are designed to store fat in case of lean times, but when those lean times no longer happen, the body just keeps storing more and more fat. This attracts the attention of our immune system and those enlarged fat cells start to release unwanted chemicals into the blood that cause inflammation and stress. The result is a much-weakened immune system and a higher risk of becoming ill.
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition gives a range of healthy fat levels according to age and whether we are male or female and here is a guide:
| |
Female |
Male |
| Age 20 – 39 |
21% - 32% |
8% - 19% |
| Age 40 – 59 |
23% - 33% |
11% - 21% |
| Age 60+ |
25% - 35% |
13% - 24% |
A great many of my more mature people that I measure, are at the top end of their range at around 35% and I always reassure them that they are not 'over-fat' but a sensible level for their age. If you find you exceed 40%, I urge strong action though, to bring it down.
Many home body weight scales now give an indication of our level of body fat and they are reasonably accurate. However, many of you reading this may not have access to that information, but it would follow that if you have a high Body Mass Index (BMI) (your height/weight ratio) of over 30, and you do very little exercise that burns off excess body fat, the chances are you are carrying too much fat. Lose the weight, exercise regularly and you will greatly reduce the fat on your body! Knowing your BMI is important and you can find it easily by using the NHS BMI Calculator.
Why does our waist expand as we age?
As our bodies age they get worse at burning fat, often caused by us becoming more sedentary the older we are and the corresponding loss of muscle mass (your fat-burning engines!). But we should also be aware of the different types of fat and look at which causes the greatest concern.
Subcutaneous fat is the one that we can pinch between our fingers and thumbs lying just underneath the skin. But there is also visceral fat that lies beneath our stomach muscles and collects around our vital organs. This type of fat is much more detrimental to our health and in older bodies the visceral fat seems to be harder to shift. Not what we want to hear.
Women tend to notice their waist expanding following the menopause, when they start to store fat in much the same way as men do, around the tummy. This is largely an increase in visceral fat and why women's risk of illness begins to match more closely that of their male counterparts – the chances of a heart condition developing for example.
Can we specifically target our visceral fat? Well, it's not that easy to single out our visceral fat away from the rest of our body fat. Our best bet is to go for fat loss in general, ideally eating a low-fat diet enriched with just a small amount of the good fats combined with plenty of exercise. The result will be a reduction of all types of body fat. Exercise has a key role to play here.
The King of Body Fats!
So, we know the bad news that too much visceral fat is not good for us, but there is some good news in that we also have what is called brown fat. There is much scientific study currently ongoing, but the current thinking is that if we can increase the amount of brown fat in the body, we will be a far more efficient calorie burner. Brown fat is a more 'active' tissue, burning energy at a much higher rate than white fat and is at its most active when we are cold.
We have heard a lot about cold water swimming recently and the benefits of it, and even just a cold-water shower can do the job. This may feel too extreme but the research is suggesting that even mild cold exposure at temperatures of around 12 degrees is effective in boosting our brown fat. This makes those winter walks an ideal way to increase our brown fat. Maybe turning down the central heating and feeling cold is good for us!
Finally, now that we know our body fat is such a vital part of our bodies perhaps it's time that we had a more sensible relationship with it. Eating a balanced diet in moderation and taking plenty of exercise is still the best way to have a healthy amount of body fat. Everything that Rosemary and I promote in The 28-Day Immunity Plan!
I absolutely love the book by Charlie Mackesey, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. It is so full of wisdom and hope. As I was writing this piece, I remembered this conversation between two of the characters: 
