13 Jan 2010

Big bottoms are healthier, study shows

2:39 pm on 13 January 2010

A new study may have pinpointed one of the reasons that people with bigger behinds are at a lower risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease than people with excess abdominal weight.

The analysis by Oxford University researchers in Britain found fat stored around the hips, bottom and thighs produces hormones that help the body better metabolise sugars and fatty acids.

Slower burning hip fat makes more of the hormone adiponectin that protects the arteries and promotes better blood sugar control and fat burning, the BBC reports.

Big behinds are preferable to extra fat around the waistline, which gives no such protection, the researchers said.