Weight Loss Discovery: Fat Is Released through Breathing

It is a source of wonder what happens to fat if you are losing weight. Scientists have now revealed that fat can be breathed out as well as burned off as you lose weight.

"There is unsurprising ignorance and confusion about the metabolic process of weight loss," reports Professor Andrew Brown, head of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences School of the University of New South Wales in Australia according to the Diabetes Insider.

The study's lead author, physicist Ruben Meerman adds, "The correct answer is that most of the mass is breathed out as carbon dioxide. It goes into thin air."

However, simply hyperventilating will not do the job. People have to breathe in and breathe out more during exercise or brisk walking to lose extra fat.

"Our calculations show that the lungs are the primary excretory organ for fat," the researchers said, noting that more than 80 percent of body fat can be exhaled away, according to The Indian Express.

Excess carbohydrate or protein in the diet is converted to triglyceride, which consists of just three kinds of atoms - carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Researchers explained that shedding unwanted fat requires unlocking the atoms in triglyceride molecules by a process known as oxidation.

"Losing weight requires unlocking the carbon stored in fat cells, thus reinforcing that often-heard refrain of 'eat less, move more,'" the researchers said according to BBC News.

They discovered that in the case of 10 kg of fat being fully oxidised, 8.4 kg departs via lungs as carbon dioxide (CO2) while the remaining 1.6 kg becomes water (H2O).

The study appeared in the Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal.