Fat

admin — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:56:59 +0000

We need fat in our diet to provide fatty acids, sometimes called lipids. When dietary fat is eaten, the acid of the stomach separates fat from the rest of the food, and in the intestines fat is attacked by an enzyme made by the pancreas called lipase, and by the bile salts from the liver. These digestive enzymes break dietary fat down into solitary fatty acids. These fatty acids are then absorbed into the thoracic duct of the lymphatic system, where they are wrapped in a little protein covering. This makes them a chylomicron, and they are carried along in this part of the lymph system until they are dumped into the blood stream just as it reaches the heart.
Why? Because the heart gets most of its energy by burning these fatty acids in the heart muscle cells. What? Yes, the heart actually gets most of its energy by burning fat! Yep, and many of the other muscles of the body also gain a large amount of their energy by burning fat which was derived from the diet, or released from fat stores when we starve or go on a diet.
In addition to serving as a vital, major and key source of fuel and energy for the body, fatty acids are important structural components of the brain and joints, the foundation of many hormones, as well as a large number of nerve impulse transmitters in the brain and nervous system. So important is fat to our health, that there are two fatty acids which are classified as “essential”, meaning we must have them in our diet or our health will suffer.
In today’s world there is an unfounded fear of fat in the diet. One of those is that fat in the diet causes acne. False! It just is not so. I’ve got a surprise for you, it is not the fat on the French Fry that causes your acne, as much as the starch in the potato, but I am getting way ahead of the story.
Our ancestors whose health was far superior to our own, ate a large amount of fat each day and much of it was of the variety labeled by the so-called experts as the wrong type of fat, saturated fat. The truth is, saturated fat is actually the safest form of fat there is. This is because it is not going to oxidize on you and develop harmful free radicals like the unsaturated fats do. In fact, University of California Medical School research has shown that if you want to age rapidly and look old soon, just consume lots of polyunsaturated, or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.

Acne » fats – how our body works

Fat