ZHuno

We shall cover:

Overview of fat
What is fat?
Fatty acids
Saturated fat
Monounsaturated fat
Polyunsaturated fat
Omega 6
Omega 3
Trans-fats
Cholesterol


Overview of Fat…

Like all areas of nutrition, the subject of fat is a very misunderstood one. Walking through any food mall or supermarket will give you the impression that fat is something that is bad; that it is something to be avoided. Low-fat spreads, low-fat yogurts… “Only half the fat of other brands…”, “just 5% fat!”

If you go by the simple analogy that fat is something to eliminate then you will get not achieve good health. The best approach is to learn about “what” you need and the “amounts” you need.

It is not so much a case of bad fats and good fats but more a matter of essential and non-essential fats. That is not to say that some fats are not harmful though if they are over consumed. But think about that carefully… is there any food that is not harmful if over consumed? Fat just tends to be one of the most overeaten foods in developed (and even some of the not so developed) countries.

Certain foods will provide you with fats that are vital to your well being while others will provide you with large amounts of non-essential types of fat. Over consumption of any type of fat is not good for you, however, the fats that often get consumed in larger quantities tend to be the non-essential types. Don’t forget; over-consumption of essential fats can make you put on weight in the same way as non-essential types. Excess weight/ Fat is all to do with “calorie” over-consumption. All will be revealed in this article…


What is fat exactly?

Fats, known as “lipids” medically speaking, come in either solid or liquid form. Solid fat is just called fat and liquid fat is called oil. They are the substances that add flavour and texture to your food which is why they are present in such large quantities in the most popular (and often unnecessary) foods.

They contain more than double the amount of calories as either protein or carbohydrates, however, fats take much longer to digest (see the calorie section for more detail). Fat is therefore ideal for energy storage; energy to be used in time of food shortage. Unfortunately the majority of people in first world countries like UK and USA seem to be stocked up with enough storage to go into hibernation for 6 months (that is not a fat loss tip by the way!). I am having difficulty remembering when the last time was we had a famine here in UK.

It is perfectly healthy to have a reasonable and shapely amount of fat throughout your body. Being too skinny is not a healthy state to be in. Body fat that is visible is the stuff that gives shape to your body as well as your muscles. Body builders, with all their ripples and bulges, have eliminated as much fat as they can in order to show the definition of the muscles. It is your personal preference as to whether you find that attractive or not. For that reason, having fat on the body is hardly considered unattractive. In fact many people like the fuller figure.

All the curves and bumps of the female body that make them look like women are in fact fat; i.e. the breasts and the thighs. On average, women’s bodies should contain more fat than men. From a sociological point of view women do tend to be more concerned than men about being overweight but it must be understood that fat is what makes the female figure look feminine.

 
How much fat?

It is all well and good having a “full” figure but at what point do you cross the line? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, however, excess fat is generally considered unsightly. The main problem is actually the fact that having too much fat on the body can be unhealthy for your heart and your body in general. There are a whole host of problems in fact; and putting on weight is often a sign of poor health maintenance.

Be wary of the fact that it is never a case of just having a certain amount of fat in general. There are “general” recommendations for the amount of fat that men and women should consume. In UK they are approximately:

Men        95 grams
Women    70 grams

Note: There are slight variations in dietary needs for people from different areas of the world but they are outside of the scope of this article and not really of concern. You can pretty much presume that people from UK have the same requirements as people from USA, Canada, Australia etc!

The best way to gauge how much fat you should be consuming is to go by “Calorie percentage.” More is said on this in the calorie section of the site.

Basically you calculate the amount of Protein, Carbohydrate and Fat that you consume in the day. You find out the percentage of calories for each food type compared to your overall consumption.

Most people will agree that your total calorie consumption of Fat should be below 30%. Many will say that you should keep it to more like 20%. Bear in mind that some of the worst diets that people follow are in the region of 60% of calories from Fat consumption! If you are a regular eater of fast food and convenience food then this is probably the kind of percentage you will be consuming. Even cheese loving vegetarians will often consume very high levels of fat; especially saturated fat.

More important than anything is to make sure you get enough of the “right” fats; the essential fats. The general rule is to consume as few saturated fats as possible and get the right amount of “polyunsaturated” fats. This will be explained shortly.

 
What is meant by fatty acids?

Fatty acids are the building blocks of fat and determine whether a fat is “saturated” or “unsaturated”. For those who like technical descriptions; a fatty acid as a chain of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached and a carbon-oxygen-oxygen-hydrogen group. There is no need to go deeper unless you wish to study the subject at a technical level.
 
The different types of fat

The 4 broad groups are:

Saturated Fat
Monounsaturated Fat
Polyunsaturated Fat
Trans-Fats


There are no fats that are entirely bad as such (although Trans-fats reportedly leach the polyunsaturated fats from the body). Even if they are not an essential fat then they will provide energy (measured in calories). Most people do not need to worry about getting enough energy from food though.

As it says in the relevant article on calories; women need around 2000 calories and men need about 2500 (those are very rough figures. Please refer to the relevant article for more detail). Often people consume more food than what they need which means that fat will be stored as opposed to being burnt up as fuel.

The following will explain the different types of fat individually.


Saturated Fat

A Saturated fat has mainly saturated fatty acids in it and is solid at room temperature. It is not required in the human diet. If it is consumed in excess then it can cause problems with your overall health; more so than the unsaturated fats. It is found in large quantities in fast food and many foods that you may consider nice, unfortunately. When people use the terminology, “bad fat,” then this is the one they are referring to.

You will tend to find that in a normal food shopping list there will always be food with saturated fat in it. You do not need to get paranoid about that. You need to just make sure that you avoid large quantities of food that have high concentrations of saturated fat. For this reason it is not really possible to give a proper recommended daily allowance as such, but guidelines are in place to ensure that people keep them to a minimum. The UK R.D.A. is:

Men         30g
Women    20g

You would do well to keep that a lot lower if at all possible.

 
Monounsaturated Fat

This contains mostly monounsaturated fatty acids and is liquid at room temperature. When chilled they become thicker but not solid as such. Monounsaturated fats are not actually required in the human diet either. They are not as harmful as saturated fat but they will, like all fats, make you put on weight if you over-consume them.

One of the best known sources of monounsaturated fat is olive oil. Contrary to what some people say, olive oil is not a high source of polyunsaturates.

 
Polyunsaturated Fat

This is one of the key words in the subject areas of fat. The 2 main terms you will come across when studying polyunsaturated fats are:

Omega 3 … also known as alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)
Omega 6 … also known as linoleic acid (LA)

(Notice the “n” missing from linole*ic – that is NOT a spelling mistake; they are two different words. Easy mistake to make…)


Omega 3

Omega 3 has been a buzz word often in nutrition circles because it seems to be one of the nutrients that people lack. You will not necessarily die if you have a deficiency of it, but it will affect your health if you do not consume enough. People who eat certain fishes or consume fish oil may not need to worry about it; that depends on how the fish is prepared.

One group who are of particular concern are vegans and sometimes vegetarians. It is easy to obtain it in supplement form in first world countries from health shops though. The main type recommended for vegetarians and vegans is linseed oil (also known as flaxseed oil). Omega 3 can also be found in soya and rapeseed oil as well.

It would be great to think that a balanced diet would provide us with all the nutrients we need. Omega 3 is one of the main nutrients that health professionals recommend you take supplements for though. Also, bear in mind that cooking has a tendency to damage this rather delicate substance. You certainly would not fry food in linseed oil! It goes great with salad though and is far more preferable than the very over popularised olive oil.

Important Note: May I make this very, very clear; Olive oil is NOT a good source of Omega 3! When you see people making statements to the effect that it is a good source then you really need to question their nutritional knowledge. The Omega 3 in Olive oil is virtually “negligible”… even if you consumed it right up to the 2000 calorie a day point!

It may contradict what you have heard from other people but as I have stressed before; contradictory advice often comes from people who don’t fully understand nutrition. The Omega 3 in 100g of olive oil (that’s about 900 calories) can be as low as 2/3 of a gram depending on the quality.

There is no official “Recommended Daily Allowance” of Omega 3 but “Optimum Nutrition Bible” suggests at least 8g + a day for “Optimum” health (depending on your calorie needs.) If you intend to drink about 1 litre (9000 calories worth) of olive oil a day then you may come close to the recommended amount; but be ready to take out life insurance.

Lack of Omega 3 has been linked to various different health problems that, although not necessarily all life threatening, are worth consideration. These include:

Dry skin
Memory and learning problems
Lack of coordination

... and many others.

Omega 6 is not so much of a concern because there is plenty more of it in food than Omega 3. It is unlikely that you will have a deficiency of this polyunsaturated fat because it is normally found in reasonably large quantities in a varied diet. If you are having problems with a deficiency then you really need to be taking a look at your diet as a whole.

 
Trans-fats

You would be right in presuming that this has a link to the use of the word trans-gender. “Trans” refers to something that has been changed or mutated. You would also be right is presuming that that is not something that is good, (I'm talking about trans-fats now, and not trans-gender!)

You will find that trans-fats are often present in margarine and other similar spreads. The process of changing polyunsaturated oil into margarine is known as hydrogenation which produces trans-fats. Unfortunately this makes trans-fats similar to saturated fats.

You are maybe thinking, “I can’t live without margarine!” Moderation in all things is important. Try to pay attention to the ingredients on margarine and sunflower spreads. Many food manufacturers are now making sure that they do not have trans-fats in their products.

 
Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a substance that is produced in healthy human bodies. When people are concerned with cholesterol it is more a case of being concerned about the effects that it has on the body due to it’s levels of production. It can become quite a complex subject and it is best to avoid worrying about it unless you actually have a problem with it. If you are following a well structured eating plan then you should not have a problem.

Cholesterol is produced in the liver. You liver checks the amount of cholesterol you are consuming and will make more or less depending on how much you consume. Do not just think in terms of “cholesterol is bad”. You will hear mention of it in advertisements; this can lead people to believe that it is something to be avoided. It is a complex subject and should not be discussed without due care and attention.


Summary

The guidelines are quite simply; avoid saturated and Trans-fats but make sure you are getting enough of the essential types. You will only really get a clear picture of how many fats you are consuming if you do a full count of all the nutrients you consume. It may be tedious doing that but in the long run it will allow you to see if you are consuming the right amounts.

Most people will agree that no more than 30% of overall calories should be coming from Fat. Remember that fats have more than twice the calorie value of carbohydrate and protein and therefore… the more fat in your diet the less food overall you can consume. Now you may see the link with fat consumption and body fat.

I for one have found in the past that when I eat fatty foods I tend to eat more. I used to be a big fan of pizzas. I would take a few bites and I would be instantly addicted. I could eat a whole 1000 calorie pizza in no time at all. If you compared that to a meal containing vegetables and something like pasta or beans then you would see exactly how much food that is; too much.

Fat is nice to eat… it is what gives many foods their texture. You must learn some restraint if you wish to stay in good health though. It is all a matter of appreciating the quantities of fat that we eat and the type.  


Further reading:

Fats that heal – Fats that kill
Burn the Fat - Feed the Muscle
Optimum Nutrition Bible
Nutrition for Dummies