Pear-Shape Promise

Having a derriere and thighs which are disproportionately large compared with your upper torso, otherwise known as being “pear shaped”, could have serious health benefits. “Oxford University scientists — who have looked at all the evidence on the health effects of storing more fat on the hips, thighs and bum, rather than around the waist — show that having a ‘pear shape’ is not just less bad for you than an ‘apple shape’, but actively protects against diabetes and heart disease. The team from the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism (OCDEM) have published their summary of the latest research in the International Journal of Obesity. ‘The idea that body fat distribution is important to health has been known for some time,’ says Dr Konstantinos Manolopoulos, one of the paper’s authors along with Dr Fredrik Karpe and Professor Keith Frayn. ‘However, it is only very recently that thigh fat and a larger hip circumference have been shown to promote health, that lower body fat is protective by itself.'”