I'm not sure where to post this - perhaps we need a science of dieting section.

Anyway I was reading in the New Scientist that people who were formally obese and lost weight statistically are more likely to die early than their always normal weight peers (or even those who are overweight).

One guy wrote in and he proposed that maybe this was because losing a lot of weight means that you eliminate lots of toxins that have been stored in your fat cells - which then may go on to affect your health. Link is here..

http://www.newscientist.com/article....mg18925350.100

Now personally I'd rather have 83 years of healthy life. I'll never have the 85 years of the never fat! (my numbers here are just for illustration).

I hope I am making sense? My point of posting is that at the moment I'm going through a really bad skin week. Its not my normal TOM time so I'm wondering if I am eliminating some toxins at the moment. If so should I really ramp up the water intake?

Does anyone know the science of this? Does anyone else wonder about this? My purpose in posting this isn't to put anyone off dieting but just to start a discussion about toxins.

I don't think there is any likelyhood that our fat cells store "toxins". What sort of toxins? Where would they come from? And WHY would your body store them? All of us at all times probably have some toxins in our systems. I would think that if you have a healthy immune system, your body would be working to eliminate any toxins it encounters AS they enter the body, not try and save them for another day.

I do know that they say we have estrogen stored in our fat cells. If you are having a bad skin day, it could be because of a release of some of that female hormone. (remember your skin at puberty?).

Sure drink more water if it makes you feel better or healthier. But I wouldn't start worrying about toxins. Unless you normally injest poison, I doubt if that is a big concern. I know, we live in an polluted environment and sometimes we injest certain poisons without meaning to, but most people with a reasonably healthy immune system are capable of handling those, unless they are the type that attack certain body systems. (like lymph nodes etc).

I think probably the reason fat people supposedly don't "live as long" has to do with not the losing of the weight, but the not losing it. Clogged arteries and stressing your heart by carrying too much weight can be ways of making your immune system less strong.

I think those kinds of statistics are really probably very biased. It is like when you start looking at the statistics of "life expectancy" in 3rd world countries or even years back. You get weird numbers like 29 or something. The reality is those numbers are really kind of skewed. People back then didn't live to be only 29 any more than they do now, they had ripe old ages then of 84 85 etc, they just had way more infant mortality rates so that the averages lowered. If you look at just the number 29, you wonder how they lived long enough to bear children and raise them.

Same way with "fat" statistics. Sure, some people who are fat have heart disease or other problems that could be associated with being fat, or eating a bad diet or stressing their immune system by not exercising and eating bad food. Doesn't mean that the fat caused all of that. It could just mean the opposite. That the lack of exercise and the junk food, caused a bad immune system and also caused the fat. Correcting all of that, should also correct the statistics.

Relax. Continue your weight loss and don't worry about toxins or statistics.

I agree with Jillybean and SherryA.....

I think the human body is an awesome machine. I personally think God made 'em that way but that is probably beside the point.
Our livers, kidneys and bowels remove toxins.
We do live in a poluted society and should probably be more aware of the crap we ingest, either by eating it or inhaling it ... but, our bodies are pretty good at cleaning up for us. A healthy body sustains a healthy body.

Oh no ... we're once again around to personal responsibility!

Coley? sure drink lots, eat clean ... you'll be right as rain in a few days. That's about all the good i can say about periods

I've read Silent Spring, the book that the article writer refers to, and a few others that detail the kind of toxic crap that is in our bodies. I took a university course about it a few years ago, and it's pretty scary, no doubt. But I don't see how being overweight could give anyone an advantage in fighting off the effects of these toxins, nor how someone who was once obese would be more affected by them than someone who had never been (unless they simply had a higher level of toxicity in their bodies than the normal weight person).

Anyway, it is definitely true that our cells store all kinds of toxins. But as for the rest of it... who knows. I wonder if anyone's done a study on it.

Ehh, I don't buy it. Although, I don't doubt that formerly obese people live longer than those who have never been overweight (or were only slightly overweight, overweight for an insignificant amount of time, etc.). However, I suspect toxins have very little, if anything, to do with it. More likely, in my opinion, is that losing weight doesn't magically undo all the damage that being obese has done to our bodies. Yes, losing weight will significantly improve your quality of life and will absolutley reduce your risk for certain health issues. But, you aren't cured of every illness or ailment that was a result of living an obese lifestyle. That wear and tear could certainly lead to a shorter lifespan.

I do think the body is a pretty marvelious machine and yes can cope with most things. The reason I posted this is that I have googled 'toxins stored in fat cells' and mostly get adverts for detox products. I wanted to know if it were possible or not hence asking here. It looks like the consensus is that its not although futuresurferchick I'd be interested in what you know about it.

Thanks for the discussion.

Our bodies do store toxins, but getting rid of the toxins causing you to live less is just ridiculous. Same as loosing weight after being obese causing you to live less. I'd question the study... most "science" is always changing, correcting itself and moving forward. This may just be one of those wierd claims...