Organisms seem to store fat fairly symmetrically, as in, even though everyone gains fat in different areas of their body, it is never stored for example in the left arm but not the right, or the right part of the belly but not the left. Is there a mechanism to regulate that any extra fat be equally distributed among both sides of the body?
In: Biology
Almost all animals show some form of symmetry (bilateral, radial, etc). This starts from the earliest embryonic stage and continues through adulthood.
Humans are bilaterally symmetrical. This also means that the distribution of fat cells is roughly equal in either half of our body. So fat ends up getting distributed evenly across all fat cells in the body, instead of accumulating in one side over the other.
We’re symmetrical because our earliest ancestor was symmetrical and also because asymmetrical beings can’t move fast enough to escape predation. Symmetrical animals can exert uniform force during motion and stay relatively balanced and thus, move faster than asymmetrical beings. So this particular trait stayed with all subsequent offsprings.
It’s just stochastics. If the left arm has the same probability to develop fat cells as the right arm, then over many cells it will roughly develop evenly.
If I have two dice and roll them independently many times, the sum of the first die will be roughly equal to the sum of the second die – or at least the difference will be negligible compared to the sum.
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