Fat Mapping

There are many misconceptions about fat. Professor Jimmy Bell explains here how his team makes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) fat maps to look at external and internal body fat. As a storage organ, fat influences hormonal and immune systems, appetite, bones and other organs. They found we can be thin on the outside, but fat on the inside (TOFI). Fat in and around our internal organs puts us at risk of diabetes and heart disease in later life. Popular measures like the body mass index (BMI) don’t take internal and external body fat into account. Different people (pictured) – all UK size 12 – have different patterns of fat distribution.

Written by Brona McVittie

Brona McVittie

Writer/Consultant

Independent science blogger and musician. Got the whole BPoD show on the road while heading up the public engagement team at the MRC CSC. Loves gardening, cooking and diving. Makes corkbots too.

• Strictly Science is a 10-day free public exhibition being held at Imperial College London, exploring the past, present and future of medical research
• Kiki von Glasow, Palladio Films
• PEMG, MRC Clinical Sciences Centre