I would like to know what people think of the idea that a tendency to gain extra body fat may be a survival stategy to cope with cold temperatures, rather than periodic starvation. If animals that occupy the coldest parts of our planet such as whales and seals have large deposits of fat for this reason, it may have been helpful to humans too. It may even explain the disposition to put the fat around the abdomen, thereby insulating the heart and other organs. Is there any scientific evidence in humans of differences in ability to survive cold temperatures as a function of body fat? I wonder if two groups of people of similar BMI but different waist-to-hip ratios have different capacities to cope in cold tempertures. Jennie Brand Miller PhD Associate Professor in Human Nutrition Department of Biochemistry G08 University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia Phone: (61 2) 9351 3759 Fax: (61 2) 9351 6022