Ask A Scientist General Science Archive

name         Teal A.
status       student
age      18

Question -   When the human body consumes more fat that it can burn,
the excess calories are stored in the necessary additional fat cells that
are created.  What does the body use to create these fat cells, what are
they composed of?  The energy is stored as fat and the body rids itself
of the rest of the matter in food as waste.  So where does the material
to make these fat cells come from?  If it is in the body in the first
place, wouldn't it already be taking up space?
----------------------------------------
Actually, as far as I know, you only create fat CELLS for a short time in
your life.  Think of them as balloons.  As more fat is stored, they blow up
in size.  As it is used, the cells shrink.  So if a person puts on a lot of
fat in the developing years (and I do not know what the age cut off is) there
is a lot of room to store fat in your life time.  But even people with a
normal amount of fat cells can "inflate" these if the diet changes over time.

vanhoeck
==============================================================