Your Body and Fat Needs
Apr 08, 2009 No Comments »
Do we need fat content in our diet and if yes what kind of fat is good for our body is a dietary concern that needs an immediate attention. To understand this clearly we need to know about kinds of fats that are part of our food and how they affect our body positively or negatively.
Today’s eatables have three kinds of fats, which are fatty acids, solid fats, and trans fats.
Fatty acids are molecules of bonded carbon atoms and can be divided in three different types saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated on the basis of the carbon bonding property.
Saturated fats are the fatty acids molecules where in carbon atoms are bonded singly. These fatty acids are harmful for our body and its consumption can lead to an increase in cholesterol and also increases the risk of heart diseases and heart stroke. Usually it is believed since the adipose tissue is made of saturated fats, our body can produce the desired levels of saturated fats and thus there is no need to include saturated fats in our daily intake.
Unsaturated fats are thus the fatty acids where the bonding of the carbon atoms is other than single bonding as is there in the saturated fats. When the fatty acid molecule has only one double or triple carbon bonding atom then it is called monounsaturated fatty acid. Olive oil, chicken, almonds, canola oil, peanut oil, and avocados are all sources of monounsaturated fats. On the other hand if the fatty acid molecule has got more than one double or triple carbon bonding atom then it is known as polyunsaturated fatty acid. Polyunsaturated fat can be found in fish, corn, soybean oil, safflower oil, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds apart from being present in many other nuts and seeds, and their oils.
Many parts of our body cells are made up of unsaturated fatty acids and thus the consumption of unsaturated fats in our diet is essential. If the supply of unsaturated fats is not adequate then the cells will use saturated fats for body structure formation and would form a weak structure. This weakening of membranes may expose our body to long term heath issues and diseases.
Solid fats are the fats have a solid form at room temperature. These are usually loaded with saturated fats and thus are not at all good for intake. The most common sources of solid fats are animal products like meat, milk, butter, beef fat, chicken fat, pork fat etc. Plant oils like coconut oil and palm kernel oil are also high in saturated fats and are nutritionally considered to be examples of Solid fats.
Trans fats usually results in because of the hydrogenation of fats and can be found in eatables that are made in or fried in partially hydrogenated oils. Trans fats are also available naturally in very minor amounts in diary products and some meats and other animal products. Like solid fats these are also full of saturated fats and thus are not good for us.
Always choose eatable that have polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat contents instead of saturated fat content to lead a healthy and long life.
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