The secret life of fat : the science behind the body's least understood organ and what it means for you / Sylvia Tara, PhD.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This groundbreaking work of practical, popular science reveals that fat is much smarter than we think.

Fat is an obsession, a dirty word, a subject of national handwringing--and, according to biochemist Sylvia Tara, the least-understood part of our body.

You may not love your fat, but your body certainly does. In fact, your body is actually endowed with many self-defense measures to hold on to fat. For example, fat can use stem cells to regenerate; increase our appetite if it feels threatened; and use bacteria, genetics, and viruses to expand itself. The secret to losing twenty pounds? You have to work with your fat, not against it. Tara explains how your fat influences your appetite and willpower, how it defends itself when attacked, and why it grows back so quickly. The Secret Life of Fat brings cutting-edge research together with historical perspectives to reveal fat's true identity: an endocrine organ that, in the right amount, is critical to our health. Fat triggers puberty, enables our reproductive and immune systems, and even affects brain size.

Although we spend $60 billion annually fighting fat, our efforts are often misinformed and misdirected. Tara expertly illustrates the complex role that genetics, hormones, diet, exercise, and history play in our weight, and The Secret Life of Fat sets you on the path to beat the bulge once and for all.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Finally, a book that sheds some light on understanding body fat-specifically, its role, why it is so difficult to fight, and how it works differently for different people. This debut book by biochemist Tara takes a hot topic and explores every avenue regarding the causes of obesity: genetics, microbes, lifestyle, race, gender, and so on. Although an incredible $60 billion was spent in the U.S. in 2014 battling fat, Tara posits that fat is actually a critical organ with an essential role to play in the endocrine system. She frankly describes her own struggles with weight, which led her to realize "we are not all created equal, at least when it comes to fat." Peppered with individual case studies, the book meticulously explains why fat isn't "one size fits all," particularly in terms of dieting. Tara recommends persistence as the main tool for dieters, combined with a diet "customized for you biologically, psychologically, and socially." This genuinely enlightening book will be a revelation to those engulfed in self-blame and shame about their weight. Hopefully, individualized weight loss will become the way of the future, leading to effective new treatments for those desperately seeking them. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Blubber. Flab. Even fat's alternative names sound disgraceful. Adipose is surely the most scorned, obsessed with, and misunderstood tissue in the human body. Billions are spent battling it. Yet fat is positioned somewhere between friend and foe. Biochemist Tara gives readers the skinny on fat in a lively discussion that incorporates sumo wrestlers, a bloated diet industry, genetics, and leptin (the satiety hormone). Fat is an organ and a component in the endocrine system with multiple functions: storing energy, releasing hormones, facilitating puberty, generating heat, and providing insulation. Tara explains that too much fat is linked with lots of health problems (diabetes, heart disease, even cancer), and she covers methods of controlling fat, including exercise, proper eating, intermittent fasting, and managing your microbiome. She summarizes current adipose research; for example, infectobesity is the theory that some viruses and bacteria can cause excess fat production. Tara emphasizes the importance of keeping body fat in a normal range and appreciating adipose for its physiological worth. Readers will discover that, regardless of body size and shape, fat does some heavy work on our behalf.--Miksanek, Tony Copyright 2016 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

Americans spend more money on the war against fat than the war against terror. As Tara writes, we are indeed a nation at war with a body part.After the birth of her second child, the author, who has a doctorate in biochemistry and has served as a consultant for major biotech companies, struggled to hold her weight in check with a combination of diet and exercise in order to pass what she describes as the skinny jeans test. From her adolescence, dieting and exercise had become an obsession but not a solution, and Tara was on a roller coaster, losing extra pounds on a starvation diet and then gaining them back just by eating dinner. Her professional training fueled her determination to find out why she gained weight while her friends, who ate more and exercised less, remained thin. Examining a variety of scientific studies, she made a surprising discovery. Experiments revealed what she calls the obesity paradox, which showed how fat plays an important part in maintaining our overall health. While obesity is a contributing factor to heart disease, the survival rate after heart failure is better for people with a higher body mass index and higher fat. Tara also discovered new reports suggesting the possibility that obesity is the result of a viral infection. Ongoing research has identified people with an antibody to the virus who gained significantly greater body mass over a 10-year period. Researchers have also found that fat stores stem cells, which play a vital role in replacing bone, muscle, and cartilage in the body. For Tara, this provides a convincing explanation of why there is not a one-size-fits-all solution to the problem of maintaining a healthy weight. The author ably combines an accessible explanation of how the bodys metabolism works with a clear survey of the latest research on obesity. A book that should have wide appeal, not only to those fighting the battle of the bulge. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Sylvia Tara holds a PhD in biochemistry from the University of California at San Diego and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Tara was a consultant with McKinsey & Company and has worked at the world's largest biotechnology companies. She lives in the Los Angeles area.