#113 FAT and the Wonderful World of this Secret Organ with, Prof Liesbeth

11th Aug 2021

Fat! This curious, wonderful and often misunderstood organ is the subject of today’s podcast with Professor Liesbeth van Rossum, MD PhD and Dr Mariëtte Boon MD PhD authors of the incredible book “Fat. The Secret Organ”. And yes it is an organ.

Professor Liesbeth van Rossum, MD, PhD is internist-endocrinologist at the Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam. She is co-founder of the Obesity Center CGG, and has an internationally leading position in the field of obesity and biological stress research.

Dr Mariëtte Boon, MD, PhD is an internal medicine specialist in training. Her research, per- formed at the Leiden University Medical Center, focuses on fat metabolism. 

Today’s pod is a whirlwind of a conversation running through a fantastic variety of topics all to do with fat. You’ll learn about:

• Why fat is an organ
• What mechanisms drive hunger and satiety
• Why too little as well as too much fat can be detrimental
• How you can stimulate your satiety to eat less
• How stress can cause fat
• The number and size of fat cells and if they change throughout your life
• Why liposuction doesn’t work
• What brown fat is and how to increase it
• Fat on inflammation, immune health and fertility
• The 6 categories of what causes weight gain from genetics and sleep to food and stress
• If a virus can cause obesity?

Their book “Fat. The Secret Organ” is a must read for anyone as interested in this subject. We didn’t get time to properly dive deep into some other topics in the book, such as the evidence based lifestyle recommendations and how you can use simple hacks to increase metabolism as well as nutrition, so do grab a copy. I highly recommend it!