you are really good at gaining weight I mean really really good you see human beings have the ability to store excess calories as fat in ways that other Apes just simply can't an evolutionary biologists think this is one of multiple factors that led to such a big brain in the human being so what we're gonna do in today's video is look at the different types of fat where you find them and their purposes so let's do this [Music] when it comes to adipose or fat there are two main types that we're gonna be discussing you
have what's called brown adipose and white adipose brown adipose is far less common in adults you see it a lot in infants and then as we age it starts to diminish in adults you will typically see it around the clavicles or the collarbones in between the scapula or shoulder blades in the upper back but its job is going to be thermogenesis or more specifically non shivering thermogenesis which basically means it's able to help elevate your body temperature without requiring muscle contractions white adipose on the other hand which is really more yellow in appearance but we're
still gonna call it white is all over the body this is probably the type of fat that you're thinking about when you're thinking about fat it's far more common than brown adipose and it has multiple functions to it you see we've recently discovered that it's actually an endocrine gland which means it helps produce hormones such as estrogen and leptin which has to do with feeling full once you've eaten it's also going to be an insulator something I've been telling my students for years is to think of like a hibernating bear right all that excess adipose
is going to help insulate them and protect them from the external environment but the main one that I least my eyes is gonna be energy storage look you as a human are able to binge eat and then store excess calories in the white adipose tissue it's an extremely useful adaptation as long as it's kept under control now there are two main areas that you find white adipose you find it in what's called visceral fat and then subcutaneous fat visceral fat is something that a lot of people think about as maybe more abdominal fat even though
visceral fat is a better way to say it this is gonna be the type of internal fat that surrounds organs such as your stomach and your liver 'men forms this really interesting piece of tissue called the greater omentum it's like this apron that just drapes over the small intestines but this visceral fat is what a lot of people describe as the dangerous type of fat which I don't fully agree with it's not as though subcutaneous fat doesn't come with danger but I see what they're saying right you only have a limited amount of space inside
your body so the fat can only go so many places before it just starts crowding out the organs but visceral fat means that it's just gonna be the fat that is inside of your body subcutaneous fat on the other hand is really the type of fat that most people are talking about when they're discussing fat this is the layer that's just underneath the skin or the integumentary system so there are three layers to your integumentary system you have what's called the epidermis the dermis and then the hypodermis or subcutaneous layer the epidermis is what slips
off and flakes off and you creates household dust the dermal layer is where we find nerve endings and blood vessels and sweat glands it's a busy area in that dermal layer just underneath that is that subcutaneous layer which is filled to the brim with white adipose tissue that is going to be able to insulate you creating a barrier between you and the outside world as well as massive amounts of energy storage the thing is males and females store different amounts of this energy males have a lower body fat percentage than females too and while this
is seems like a cruel joke there's actually a good reason behind this I've been saying this for years to my students and it's kind of tongue-in-cheek but also kind of true females are just more important than males and what I mean by that is it's much more of a burden on the female to raise a child than it is for a male she has to do so much including nursing a child you see it costs 500 more calories on average per day to nurse a child and that doesn't seem like that many calories today but
it's 2020 we can just go to the grocery store and grab some food but for hunter-gatherers if you think to your ancient ancestors finding 500 calories is a difficult task so what nature has done has made it easier for the female to gain weight and more difficult for her to lose it because she needs that energy storage to help supply the young but there's more than just that when it comes to males and females and fat storage you see we even deposit it in different locations and this is hormonal e driven males will tend to
deposit their fat in their belly region above all else that's why you can see a male who has skinny arms skinny face and then beer belly but if you look at females there they tend to store their adipose in their hips thighs and glutes and this is one of those secondary sex characteristics which are such a fascinating concept we're gonna have to do a video on its own just on secondary sex characteristics but these are things that make that we can identify as a female trait or a male trait such as facial hair deeper voice
softer skin which is another interesting thing about adipose females actually have softer skin due to that higher body fat ratio these are secondary sex characteristics very very fascinating okay so nobody wants to have too much fat or not enough fat but we need to understand that it is still important to have it I feel like in today's society fat has been demonized to this point where people just don't understand how important and amazing it really is so I guess this is my way of saying be proud of those extra pounds that you have they are
good for you and just just think about your fuelling brain growth right now at least that's what I tell myself okay so hopefully you enjoyed this video adipose tissue if you did be sure to LIKE comment and if you haven't already you got to subscribe oh and also we're offering merchandise so if you want to wear awesome shirts like me that say Institute of human anatomy check out our shop below the video and you can look super snazzy out there in the world but thank you for watching and I will see you in the next
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