On Thu, 8 Oct 1998, Amadeus Schmidt wrote:

> 1st.
> Body fat has annother advantage (besides storage):
> - it isolates the body

Insulates, right?
Yes.

> . Wouldn't it be a  useful reaction of
> the body to increase the body isolating layer if it is
> sensing too cool temperatures for some time?

Yes, but there are limits.  If the climate gets very cool, it
won't be enough to have body fat.

> 2nd.
> Body fat as a storage is only useful if times of food scarcity
> occur (otherwise it could become a hinderance in running
> or transporting things).
> Maybe scarcity periods set a stimulous to build better
> storages, next time energy is available.
> Maybe even by lowering the basal metabolism to spare
> more energy.

This makes sense.  It might also help to explain why weight loss
gets harder the more times one attempts it.

> Some conclusions from this hypothesis would be:
> to 1)
> -Don't let parts of your body get too cold often
>  (many have a reduced body temperature slightly below
>  the 37DC, and/or cold hands/feet)

On the other hand, cool temperatures are said to stimulate the
thermogenic activity of brown fat, which causes the body to burn
stored fat to keep its temperature up.

> -train you blood circulation to ensure that
> -ensure a proper vitamin-b1 supply
>  (I'm suspecting b1-deficits to result in an under-heating
>  of the body because b1 will be used with priority for the
>  nerval system, if it is little).

This makes sense.

> to 2)
> -don't make frequent fasting periods
>  They'll tell your body to aquire more storage for the next time
> -eat if you're hungry

I think it's probably *extended* fasting periods that should be
avoided.

Todd Moody
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