By Elena Voropay

No matter how many lunges you do, the fat wrapped around your thighs just doen't want to leave. You know what I mean if you are a woman. Cellulite is a woman's curse that does not discriminate against age or body weight. Cellulite is a non-medical term coined in France to describe the lumpy concentrations of fat that often accumulate just under the skin of the thighs, hips, and buttocks. Nobody really knows what cellulite is, according to Leo McCafferty, M.D., clinical professor of plastic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Cellulite seems to develop when small blood vessels in the layer of fatty tissue under the skin become damaged, perhaps from inflammation. The circulation of blood and lymph slows. As fluid accumulates, the fat layer expands and puckers, resulting in a dimpled appearance.

Hard, or solid, cellulite usually occurs in women who are active (such as dancers or runners). Hard cellulite is difficult to get rid of because it doesn't lift from the body easily. It's also harder to see because it attaches directly to the muscle. Soft cellulite is not as concentrated as hard cellulite and is much more visible. It occurs in large areas and, because it doesn't attach so strongly to the muscle, it's looser, often sagging from the body. The result is often poor muscle tone. Even though it's easier to spot, it's also easier to remove.

If you want to find out what kind of cellulite occupies your body, lightly pinch a flab of skin and fat in any area where you see cellulite and observe. If your squeezed skin looks fairly smooth, what you have is simple under-skin or subcuttaneous fat. But if your pinch resembles the skin of an orange with dimples or ripples, you've got cellulite. Cellulite tissue is also more sensitive and can feel cold to the touch. It might appear whiter than the rest of your skin.

It is a known fact that women have more fat on their thighs than men do. But why? We know women need more fat on their bodies to serve the purpose of child bearing. But what does cellulite have to do with all that? Plenty of overweight men have no traces of lumpy fat, and plenty of thin women have 'cottage cheese' all over their bodies. Now researchers are getting closer to the solution of this problem.

In a trial published in the American Journal of Physiology scientists found that generally women store more adipose tissue in the lower body after each meal and they have harder time losing it during exercise.

Fat Sorage

12 men and 12 women were given a liquid meal containing carbohydrate, protein, and fat. The researchers used fatty acid "tracing" technique to establish precisely what happened to the fat in the meal. The results show that women store twice as much fat in subcutaneous (under the skin) tissue than men. Precisely, for every 10 fat grams consumed, women stored four grams of fat under the skin while men only two grams of fat. Men, on the other hand, stored more visceral fat that surrounds and protects your internal organs. And to complete the picture, researchers found that after the meal, the flow of blood to fat in the thighs increased in women, but not in men.

Variations in blood flow could be another reason some women store more fat in their lower body than men do. The greater blood flow could deliver more chylomicrons to fat tissue in the leg, increasing fat storage. Chylomicrons are microscopic particles of emulsified fat found in the blood and lymph and formed during the digestion of fats.

Why You See The Cottage Cheese

Researchers from New York's Rockefeller University have discovered that cellulite is simply fat under the skin that has a dimpled look. It looks this way because women have a layer of irregular and discontinuous connective tissue immediately below the skin. Publishing their findings in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the research team — led by Dr Michael Rosenbaum — used several methods to examine both the affected and unaffected areas of the thigh. They found that the layer of connective tissue is more irregular and discontinuous in women affected with cellulite. But the fat cells themselves aren't different from other fat cells in the same area of the body.

In men, the same layer of connective tissue is smooth and continuous. That's why cellulite is more common in women than men. This hasn't stopped an entire industry being built around the concept that cellulite is a different type of fat requiring a special diet or unique (and usually expensive) form of treatment.

Spot Reduction

OK, let the nature do its job making women carry almost all the fat on their legs. But there must be something you can do to minimize the amout. So, you decide to do hundreds of exercises for your legs, but the picture doesn't change. Why?

In a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology a group of 31 women took part in a six-month training program consisting of 90 minutes of training, five days each week performing various leg exercises. The women exercised for almost nine hours each week for six months. Yet they lost just under six pounds of fat. Roughly half of the lost fat came from the trunk. The rest came from the arms, even though the women did no so-called "toning" exercises for their arms. Despite all the exercise the women did for their legs, their thighs were just as fat at the end of the study as they were at the start.

Cellulite Marketplace

Some products are promoted specifically as miracle cures for cellulite. Anticellulite creams, lotions, and gels, costing as much as $100 for a few ounces, contain a wide range of ingredients, from caffeine, dried ginkgo biloba extract, seaweed, evening primrose oil, green tea and various vitamins. While they may soften the skin, there is no proof that any of them reduces cellulite. But distributors shamelessly claim that these ingredients increase blood circulation, reduce fluid buildup, strengthen collagen and increase your metabolic rate.If you have ever used anti-cellulite creams, you know that they don't work. Then, why do women continue their anti-cellulite shopping binge?

The best way to minimize cellulite is to exercise and lose weight.

Squats, lunges, and step exercises with light weights are particularly effective for increasing muscle tone in the buttocks and thighs. As muscle builds, the skin feels and looks firmer. Cellulite cannot be eliminated with liposuction, a surgical technique in which fat cells are removed in order to reshape specific areas of the body.

In 1999, Rexall Sundown — the company marketing Cellasene — launched a national public relations campaign heralding the introduction of Cellasene as a major news event. The company hired an agency to distribute a "video news release" describing the Cellasene clinical studies as "impressive." News stories on Cellasene appeared throughout the country. News releases are written purposely in a news format. They save journalists the time and trouble of researching the subjects on their own. Entire sections of a news release can be simply "cut and pasted" with little or no editing.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced on March 11, 2003 that it won a settlement in a U.S. District Court against Rexall Sundown. The eight-week Cellasene regimen cost consumers almost $200, and Rexall sold more than $40 million of this product. Despite being forced to pay up to $12 million to consumers throughout the United States who purchased Cellasene, Rexall Sundown is still left with a tidy profit. However, they're not allowed to make any unsubstantiated claim that Cellasene will improve the appearance of cellulite.

It is yet to be revealed why this happens, but for now watch your diet, stay active, engage in resistance training, and you are sure to get rid of cellulite.