Fats

Fat can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

It is easy to get confused when talking about fats because some are good and some are bad.

This blog will answer the following fat-related questions:

What exactly is fat?

What are the different types of fat? 

What are functions of fat? 

Which fats are good and which are bad? 

A special note on saturated fats and composition of different oils and fat around the world.

What is fat?

Fats are made of collections of molecules called triglycerides.

If this collection is liquid at room temperature, it can be called an oil; if it’s solid, it is referred to as a fat.

A triglyceride is formed from three fatty acids attached to a glycerol molecule.

Functions of Fat Fats are the largest and the cleanest source of energy and they provide 9 calories per gram more than double that of proteins and carbohydrates. 

They are essential for growth, development and cell functions.

They also help in maintaining body's core temperature and also help in absorption of fat-soluble vitamins like A,D,E,K.

What types of fats and oils are there? 

Saturated fats are triglycerides that contain only single covalent bonds between fatty acid carbon atoms.

Because they lack double bonds, each carbon atom is saturated with hydrogen atoms.

A few examples are cocoa butter, palm oil, coconut oil, and red meat. 

Monounsaturated fats contain fatty acids with one double covalent bond between two fatty acid carbon atoms. 

They are not completely saturated with hydrogen atoms. The best-known source of monounsaturated fat is olive oil. 

Polyunsaturated fats contain more than one double covalent bond between fatty acid carbon atoms. 

Polyunsaturated fatty acids are found in lengths of 18, 20 and 22 carbons. 

The best known fats in this category are omega-6 fatty acids (linoleic, gamma-linolenic, and arachidonic acids) and omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic, eicosapentaenoic [EPA], and docosahexaenoic [DHA] acids).

All fats and oils, regardless of whether they are of vegetable or animal origin, are some combination of saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated linoleic acid and linolenic acid. In general, animal fats such as butter, lard, and tallow contain about 40 – 60 percent saturated fat and are solid at room temperature.

Good Fats Avocados, egg yolk, coconut oil, extra-virgin olive oil, salmon, flaxseed, ghee, almonds and walnuts. 

Bad fats are mainly found in margarine, pastries, corn and soy oil, basically all processed vegetable oils, and trans fats the worst kind of fat.

Please see to this amazing fact that all the good fats are fats that exist in nature as it is, where all bad fats are man-made, just food for thought.

Saturated fats: 

Saturated fats have gotten a lot of attention in the press over the years, but these fats have been unfairly demonized. 

I won't go deep into this controversial topic and I have written a comprehensive post about saturated fats and have provided meta-analysis to prove why saturated fat is not the enemy here.

Do not fear whole milk and whole eggs. Embrace them, and eat them as nature intended.

Do not fear saturated fats. They are your best friends and should be responsible for the majority of the calories you eat from fat. 

Avoid trans fats at all costs; they are the worst kinds of fat and wreak havoc on your body. 

Be sure to include sources of EFA omega-3, as the body cannot manufacture it.

Some good sources include fatty wild-caught fish, flaxseed, and krill oil supplements. 

You should absolutely limit your intake of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA’s) from the majority of vegetable oils.

This will improve your ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats.

Ideally, you should limit consumption of omega-6 fats (sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, etc.) to just 2 – 3 percent of your daily calories.

Here is the chart I created for you which shows the composition of fats and oils around the world. 

Notice ghee and coconut oils are mainly saturated fats.

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