What is known is that there’s a correlation between people who gain lots of weight around the middle and people who develop metabolic disease. New Fat Cells Seem To Ward Off Disease In the thighs and other lower body parts, meanwhile, overeating results in the creation of new fat cells. Somehow, the addition of new fat cells seems to ward off metabolic disease. Scientists think so, anyhow, because according to one study, people who gain weight in the lower body more than the upper tend not to have metabolic disease. So although extra pounds may not be desirable, some types of fat are worse than others.