Getting "fat" used to give us a genetic edge: When food was scarce, we needed to store backup reserves of energy, because we couldn't always guarantee when or where we'd find our next meal.
"This ability to store surplus fat from the least possible amount of food intake may have made the difference between life and death, not only for the individual but also -- more importantly -- for the species," Garabed Eknoyan, M.D., of the Baylor College of Medicine, wrote in a 2006 history of obesity. "Those who could store fat easily had an evolutionary advantage in the harsh environment of early hunters and gatherers."
