關於肥胖你不知道的20件事範例

1. They’re doing something right out West. Sixty-six percent of Americans are overweight or obese, with the national obesity rate doubling between 1976 and 1999. But as of 2007, California was the only state not getting any fatter.

肥胖問題正在西方國家肆虐橫行。65%美國人超重或肥胖，從1976年到1999年，全國肥胖率翻了一倍。2007年，全美只有加利福尼亞州人口沒有增胖。

2. The root of the problem? Depending on gender and how active they are, adults should eat 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day. U.S. agriculture now produces 3,900 calories of food per inhabitant per day.

癥結何在？肥胖程度因性別及個性而不同。成人每天需消耗2000-3000卡路里能量。而當下美國農業的產出爲每天人均3900卡路里。

3. People who regularly eat dinner or breakfast in restaurants double their risk of becoming obese.

常在餐館解決早晚餐的人，發胖率是正常人兩倍。

4. Being overweight reduces a woman’s chances of getting pregnant.

肥胖會降低女性懷孕率。

5. The National Institutes of Health believes obesity is one of the reasons why the fastest-growing group of women experiencing infertility are those under 25.

國家衛生院表示，肥胖是引起越來越多25歲以下女性不孕不育的症候之一。

6. We’re trying. Each year nearly $50 billion is spent on diet programs.

人們一直爲解決肥胖問題而努力。每年，約有500億美元投資於減肥項目。

7. People who lose just 10 percent of their weight reportsignificantimprovement in their sex lives.

成功減輕10%體重的人表示，他們的性生活也大有提高。

8. Biology is trying to help too. Leptin is a hunger-slaking hormone pumped into the bloodstream by fat cells. The more fat you have, the more leptin you make and the less hungry you feel.

生物界也一直在努力。“瘦素”是一種能延緩飢餓感的基因，可通過脂肪細胞注入人體血液。脂肪越多，容納的瘦素就越多，飢餓感也就越少。

9. Want to get your hands on some leptin? The hormone never panned out as a diet aid because most overweight people have become insensitive to it.

你是不是也想注入瘦素呢？可惜瘦素還不及節食援助奏效，因爲大部分肥胖的人早已對瘦素麻木了。

10. Over the course of a year, about 10 percent of an adult’s fat cells die. Alas, the bodypromptly replaces them.

每年，成人體內約有10%的脂肪細胞會消亡。可惜，新陳代謝很快又能跟上來。

11. The total number of fat cells in your body remains constant once you reach adulthood. Even after radical weight-lossprocedures such as stomach stapling, fat cells return to their presurgery numbers within two years.

一旦成人，體內的脂肪細胞便會持續累積。哪怕你採取腸胃吻合術這樣劇烈的減肥措施，兩年後，脂肪也會恢復到手術前的數量。

12. Try the vacuum instead. Liposuction is the only way to actually reduce the number of fat cells in your spare tire. Diet and exercise just shrink them.

抽脂倒可以嘗試。吸脂術是唯一能夠抽掉腰間脂肪的方法，節食和運動只能讓脂肪萎縮而已。

13. New Zealander Pete Bethune gave a whole new meaning to biofuel when he used his liposuctioned fat to power the world’s fastest eco-boat. A way to solve the obesity epidemic and the fuel crisis?

新西蘭人彼得·白求恩締造了“生物燃料”這個全新概念：他用抽出來的脂肪發動了全球最快的生態小艇。可否視其爲解決肥胖問題和燃料危機的妙方呢？

14. It may make you prettier, but not healthier. Liposuction doesn’t remove fat from around the internal organs, so your fat-related health risks are unchanged.

抽脂可以讓你看上去更漂亮，但未必更健康。它吸不掉體內器官周圍的脂肪，所以，肥胖引起的健康隱患依然存在。

15. Blame Mom and Dad. Obesity is more heritable than schizophrenia, high blood pressure, and alcoholism.

要怪就怪你父母吧。肥胖的遺傳性比精神分裂症、高血壓和酗酒的遺傳率還高。

16. Cutting saturated fat intake to therecommended 10 percent of your calories will prolong your life, but only by a few months at most, researchers found.

研究發現，將飽和脂肪減少10%卡路里，最多可延長數月壽命。

17. The brain is about 70 percent fat.

大腦約含70%脂肪。

18. Bottlenose dolphins use fatty tissuein the head, concentrated in an organ called the melon, to focus sound waves, giving them their sonar ability.

膽鼻海豚頭部有塊叫“鯨脂”的脂肪組織，可用來聚焦聲波，使其具備聲納感應能力。

19. Think you have a spare tire? Whales are wrapped in fat—a thick layer of blubber—as vital insulation against the cold. Some whales have a blubber layer up to 20 inches thick.

是不是想到了你腰部的贅肉？鯨魚全身裹滿鯨脂以便禦寒。有些鯨魚的鯨脂厚達20英寸。

20. Camels have the opposite problem: Living in hot climates, they want as little heat-trapping insulation as possible, so they concentrate their fat in their humps.

但駱駝卻恰恰相反：沙漠氣候下，保暖的脂肪越少越好。所以，駱駝的脂肪全都集中在了駝峯上。