Are you an apple or a pear?

I was reading some articles today about some research that scientist have been doing on how fat stores in our bodies. Basically, they have found that the fat in your butt and hips is "good" fat, it helps fight heart disease,lowers risk of increased weight gain, and other benefits. While, as we've known for some time, belly fat is bad, it contributes to heart disease and cancer, it is associated with higher rates of obesity and diabetes. The other interesting thing I read was that they are finding, at least in lab animals, that certain chemicals found in the lining of microwave popcorn, boat paint,plastic food wrappers, and as fungicide for crops are causing or contributing to obesity. The wacky thing that happens, in the short version, is that when the pregnant mom is exposed to these chemicals, even in tiny amounts, while the fetus is developing, it causes a disturbace of the endocrine system in the fetus, which is the system that helps us to maintain our metabolism. Our metabolism, if you don't know plays a major role in our energy level and subsequently, our weight. They see that the offspring of these exposed animals are small at birth, but end up gaining signifigant weight later, and are more likely to become obese, even though they eat and exercise the same amount as unexposed offspring of unexposed mothers.
Very interesting.

Something else I picked up on... why is it that when they talk about body types, skinny body types get terms like "hourglass", and "athletic" while fat body types get defined by food-terms like "apple" and "pear". That's just an unnecessary jab, if you ask me.