Mrs. Pee's Fat Facts

Source: Prescription for Nutritional Healing

Although much attention has been focused on the need to reduce dietary fat, the body does need fat. Fat is needed during infancy and childhood for normal brain development. Throughout life, fat is essential to provide energy and support growth. Fat is, in fact the most concentrated source of energy available to the body. After about 2 years of age, the body requires only small amounts of fat. Excessive fat intake is a major causative factor in obesity, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, and colon cancer, and has been linked to a number of other disorders as well. To understand how fat intake is related to these health problems, it is necessary to understand the different types of fats available and the ways in which these fats act within the body.

Fats are composed of building blocks called fatty acids. There are 3 major categories of fatty acids---saturated, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated. These classifications are based on the number of hydrogen atoms in the chemical structure of a given molecule of fatty acid. (Is this too much chemistry for you?)

Saturated fatty acids are found primarily in animal products, includijng dairy items, such as whole milk, cream, and cheese, and fatty meats like beef, veal, lamb, pork, and ham. The fat marbling you can see in beef and pork is composed of saturated fat. Some vegetable products--including coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and vegetable shortening---are also high in saturates.

The liver uses saturated fats to manufacture cholesterol. The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) recommend that the daily intake of saturated fats be kept below 10% of total caloric intake. However, for people who have severe problems with high blood choolesterol, even that level may be too high.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids are found in greatest abundance in corn, soybean, safflower, and sunflower oils. Certain fish oils are also high in polyunsaturates . Polyunsaturates may actually lower your total blood cholesterol level. In doing so, however, large amounts of polyunsaturates also have a tendency to reduce your HDLs---your good cholesterol. For this reason, the NCEP state that an individual's intake of polyunsaturated fats should not exceed 10% of total caloric intake.

Monounsaturated fatty acids are found mostly in vegetables and nut oils such as olive, peanut, and canola.