Why Men Have Belly Fat and Women Hip Fat

There is an old question that scientists have tried to answer for decades. Why do men store fat on their bellies and women on their hips and butt. Well according to a recent study done at UT Southwestern Medical Center the answer is in our genes.

It seems that the male genes tell a man’s body to store fat on their bellies. That is why overweight men have huge bellies. Women on the other hand are genetically programmed to store fat on their hips, butt and thighs. Women are at a clear advantage considering the fact that belly fat is linked to the major health problems related with being fat: diabetes and cardio-vascular health issues.

What is interesting though is the fact that women that have reached menopause tend to store fat on their bellies too. This seems to indicate that the male and female hormones, testosterone and estrogen, influence how and where the fat is stored.

The study was done on mouse genes because mice also store fat differently according to their gender. In fact mice store fat just as humans do, which was very convenient for the researchers.

According to Dr. Deborah Clegg "We found that out of about 40,000 mouse genes, only 138 are commonly found in both male and female fat cells. This was completely unexpected. We expected the exact opposite — that 138 would be different and the rest would be the same between the sexes.”

During the study the researchers were also able to point out the fact that male mice have a greater chance of getting fat on a fat filled diet than female mice. If this is true also for us humans, then men should really stay away from anything filled with fat if they want to lose weight. Women on the other hand have it more easily from Mother Nature in this regard. A high fat diet won’t make then gain as much weight as men do.

Dr Clegg concluded that "The notion that fat cells between males and females are alike is inconsistent with our findings." This study open the door to new and exciting weight loss findings. Hope they will find a faster and more efficient way of losing weight for both men and women.

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