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

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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?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

It actually does do that, the body will reach a point where it can’t add to the fat store and then starts accumulating in organs, as well as being excreted in waste products. ( Fatty liver is one such organ that gets hit.)

However, this eventually leads to organ damage and has an amplification effect, where the body is unable to receive signals to stop ‘needing’ to ingest available nutrients.

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