eli5: Why will the body continue to store excess fat to the point where it jeopardizes the person’s health?

Question

I understand food wasn’t always so abundant, and humans were well served to store excess consumed energy as fat for later use. What I don’t understand is why the body keeps storing fat to the point where a person becomes morbidly obese and it puts their entire health at risk. Why isn’t there a point where the body just let’s the extra calories pass through without saving for later?

In: 1194

Answer 1

Our bodies doesn’t have a way of letting the extra calories pass through it because that has basically only been a necessity for the last 100 years.