Got a Q for Biologists or medical personnel

Xstatic1

Diamond Member
Sep 20, 2006
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Dead victim was an adult male approximately 160 lbs with Brittle Bone disease. Because the body was found swimming in chemicals, one of the medical examiners said he had 9.3 liters of fat (liquified). 9.35 liters = ~2.5 gallons. My question is do human being have that much fat in their bodies. If I remember correctly, women have more fat than men, so theoretically average-sized women could have 3+ gallons of fat in their bodies...is that right?
 

Vich

Platinum Member
Apr 11, 2000
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Originally posted by: Xstatic1
Dead victim was an adult male approximately 160 lbs with Brittle Bone disease. Because the body was found swimming in chemicals, one of the medical examiners said he had 9.3 liters of fat (liquified). 9.35 liters = ~2.5 gallons. My question is do human being have that much fat in their bodies. If I remember correctly, women have more fat than men, so theoretically average-sized women could have 3+ gallons of fat in their bodies...is that right?

It really does depend. You could be a huge 6'6 male with very low body fat percentage, or a 5'5 male who weighs 300lb and is all fat.
 
Mar 22, 2002
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Well, here. Let's do this in a process. Somewhat active men are like 20% body fat. Athletes are usually 10-15%. Olympians 7-8%. Body builders when it comes to show time 3-5%. Now if you use that calculation of % times the 160 lbs, you'll get the weight of the fat. All you need is the density of fat in pounds per liter (it's about .9 g / mL, if you wanna do the conversion). If that comes out to approximately what you have, then there is roughly that much fat in people's bodies. Theoretically, average sized women have around 25-30% body fat.
 

Xstatic1

Diamond Member
Sep 20, 2006
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thanks for all the replies. let's just say i was fairly startled when the M.E. said he had 9.3 liters of fat so far (yeah i know, it's just a TV program!!)...but it really got me curious. i learned something new today! thanks ya'll.