The Fat Problem · Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
了解脂肪的双重角色，它既是健康必需的内分泌器官，也可能成为代谢破坏者。适合练习词汇、语法和科学类话题理解。
Fat is your most dangerous organ.
脂肪其实是你身体里最“危险”的器官。
Yes, organ.
是的，指的是器官。
While it is often falsely described as a mere expression of laziness or gluttony, fat is essential for health,
虽然人们常常错误地认为脂肪只是懒惰或暴饮暴食的表现，但实际上脂肪对健康至关重要。
controlling and guiding crucial processes in your body.
它们负责控制和引导你体内那些至关重要的生理过程。
But if you have too much fat, it starts to disrupt your metabolism becoming one of the most deadly things that can happen to your body.
但是，如果体内脂肪过多，就会开始干扰新陈代谢，从而成为对身体最有害的因素之一。
Today more people are obese than starving, which is a huge victory.
如今，肥胖的人数超过了饥饿的人数，这是一项巨大的胜利。
There are all sorts of ideas about the cause of the obesity epidemic but it really comes down to one thing:
关于肥胖流行病的成因，人们提出了各种各样的观点，但归根结底，这一切都可以归结为一点：
For millions of years, humans had to expend a lot of effort to get food and often faced hunger.
在数百万年的时间里，人类不得不付出巨大的努力才能获得食物，因此经常面临饥饿的威胁。
Our bodies evolved to hold on to every bit of energy.
我们的身体进化出了能够充分利用每一丝能量的机制。
And then suddenly we had an overabundance of food we didn't need to move much for.
然后，突然之间，我们拥有了大量的食物，而这些食物并不需要我们花费太多精力去运输（或搬运）。
We made food hyperpalatable and ultra processed, with loads of unhealthy fats, salt and sugar.
我们把食物加工得极其美味，同时也使其变得高度工业化（即经过大量复杂的加工工序）；这些食物含有大量的不健康脂肪、盐分和糖分。
Our brains love this, so our food is extremely hard to resist, to the point of being addictive.
我们的大脑非常喜欢这种感觉，因此我们很难抗拒这些食物；甚至会对其产生依赖（即上瘾）。
It is also extremely convenient, cheap and you get a lot of energy per volume – so it’s not very satiating.
这种能源使用起来也非常方便、价格低廉；而且单位体积内所含的能量较多，但由于能量密度较高，因此其饱腹感相对较弱（即食用后不容易让人感到满足）。
This leads to most of us regularly overeating without realising it.
这就导致我们大多数人经常在不知不觉中吃得过多。
And food is aggressively marketed, especially to children.
食品被大力推销，尤其是针对儿童的产品。
Fat comes with a lot of shame
肥胖常常伴随着人们的羞耻感。
and blame which is pretty unfair, in a world full of things that make you feel nice and are available within minutes.
这种责备其实非常不公平——毕竟在这个世界上，有很多能够让人感到愉悦的东西，而且它们只需几分钟就能获得。
Body fat is also often unfairly villainized – but it is crucially important for your health and if you don't have enough,
体脂也常常被不公平地视为“有害因素”；但实际上，它对健康至关重要。如果体脂含量过低，会对身体造成严重影响。
you can suffer problems from infertility to a weak immune system, fatigue, mental health issues and osteoporosis.
你可能会面临一系列健康问题，包括不孕不育、免疫系统功能减弱、疲劳、心理健康问题以及骨质疏松症。
Still none of this changes how bad excess fat is for us.
然而，这一切都无法改变过量脂肪对我们健康的危害程度。
So how does our fat organ become so destructive and can we help ourselves?
那么，我们的“脂肪器官”究竟是如何变得如此具有破坏性的呢？我们又能做些什么来帮助自己呢？
What Is Fat?
什么是脂肪？
If you consume more energy than you burn you store it as triglycerides, an organic battery bustling with energy.
如果你摄入的能量超过了消耗的能量，这些多余的能量就会以甘油三酯的形式被储存起来。甘油三酯其实就像一种“有机电池”，内部充满了能量。
Collected in a large drop of fat inside a white fat cell.
这些物质被收集在白色脂肪细胞内的一滴脂肪中。
Gain weight and white fat cells expand with fat, lose weight and they shrink.
当体重增加时，白色脂肪细胞会随着脂肪的积累而膨胀；当体重减轻时，这些细胞则会缩小。
Only in the last few decades have we learned fats' most important job: Fat is an endocrine organ,
直到最近几十年，我们才了解到脂肪最重要的功能：脂肪实际上是一种具有内分泌功能的器官。
part of the system that makes and regulates your hormones: chemical signals for your brain, liver, muscles, digestive tract and immune system,
该系统负责生成和调节人体内的激素；这些激素实际上是一种化学信号，它们会传递给大脑、肝脏、肌肉、消化道以及免疫系统。
making them work correctly together.
确保这些组件能够正确地协同工作。
Unfortunately if you become overweight and obese, your fat organ and the many hormones it releases turn insane.
不幸的是，如果你超重或肥胖，你的脂肪组织以及它分泌的多种激素会变得异常活跃（或：会失去正常的生理功能）。
In adults fat comes in two types of white fat depots – most of it is subcutaneous fat,
在成年人体内，脂肪主要储存在两种类型的白色脂肪组织中：其中大部分是皮下脂肪。
the gooey soft stuff under your skin that insulates against the cold and serves as energy storage.
那种位于皮肤下的黏稠、柔软的物质能够起到隔热作用，并且还能储存能量。
The other one is visceral fat nestled between your organs providing a soft cushion for your sensitive insides.
另一种脂肪是内脏脂肪，它位于你的器官之间，为那些脆弱的内部器官提供一层柔软的缓冲保护。
But it also happens to be more dangerous.
但与此同时，这种行为也更加危险。
These fat cells are super sensitive to stress hormones like cortisol or adrenaline.
这些脂肪细胞对皮质醇或肾上腺素等应激激素极其敏感。
When they pick up a surge of stress, they release fatty acids directly into your blood and are picked up by your liver,
当他们感受到压力时，会直接将脂肪酸释放到血液中，随后这些脂肪酸会被肝脏吸收。
as a rapid source of energy.
作为一种快速的能量来源。
On top of that your visceral fat is very metabolically active, in a constant hormonal dialog with the rest of your body.
除此之外，你的内脏脂肪具有很高的代谢活性，始终与身体其他部位通过激素进行相互作用（即处于持续的“激素对话”状态）。
This is also why the health of two people with the same weight and amount of fat can be totally different.
这也是为什么两个体重相同、脂肪含量也相同的人的健康状况可能会截然不同的原因。
If you are pear shaped and your
如果你属于梨形身材（即上半身较胖、下半身较瘦的体型），那么……
fat is mostly in your hips or limbs you are much less at risk than someone apple shaped with a lot of fat in their torso.
脂肪主要积聚在臀部或四肢部位，因此与那些身材呈“苹果形”（即腹部脂肪较多的人）相比，你的健康风险要低得多。