20 Fascinating Facts About Fats

20 Fascinating Facts About Fats

The word ‘fat,’ invokes a lot of fear, low self-esteem, and insecurity. Most people associate fat in our bodies with being unhealthy and ugly and this is honestly so misguided and wrong. There’s a lot more to fats biologically speaking than meets the eye and the thing is, not all of it is bad; contrary to common belief. Fats play a big role in our bodies and without it, our bodies would shut down almost immediately. They are quite advantageous and that is one thing we should all appreciate. With that said, here are some of the fascinating facts about fats.

1. Fats are complex molecules

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Indeed, fats are very complex and complicated molecules that contain glycerol and fatty acids. In the typical sense, these are macronutrients usually involved in the absorption and transportation of vitamins A, D, E, and K throughout the bloodstream. Thus, fats must play this role for the body to be considered healthier as far as healthy nutrients go.

2. Fats control various development in our bodies

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In the human body, as earlier acknowledged, fats play crucial roles hence why they can’t be overlooked and why they are considered important. In this instance, they play major roles when it comes to controlling inflammation, blood coagulation, brain development, producing essential hormones, and even digesting nutrients.

3. Fats are the most concentrated source of energy

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Did you know that fats are the most concentrated source of energy in most of our diets? That’s why it is important to appreciate the fact that they do have many benefits for our bodies and we shouldn’t demonize them. Always being made to believe that the definition of being healthy is completely getting rid of fats. Some of the healthy sources of fats include walnuts, fish, and vegetable-based oil among many others.

4. Saturated fat isn’t so healthy for our bodies

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Remember how we’ve mentioned that fats aren’t all bad? Indeed. The saturated kind of fat is typically responsible for bad cholesterol and is usually found in high amounts in animal products. Such include cheese, butter, red meat, and many others. When taken in large quantities, they can cause blockage to the blood vessels and of course, this becomes very problematic in the long run. This is not to say that now we shouldn’t consume these products. Those food sources with high saturated fats, as advised by many medical practitioners, should be consumed in very small quantities.

5. Fats are also present in processed foods

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Fats known as trans fats are present in so many of the processed foods we usually take. These are food items the baked ones including cakes, cookies, and snacks among others. Deep-fried foods also are high in saturated fats and the typical junk foods the doctors always warn us about. This is exactly the reason why. Just to clarify, trans fats are semi-solid naturally speaking, and are usually produced by the hydrogenation of vegetable oils.

6. We also have fats that are referred to as healthy

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Just like we have saturated fats that are typically referred to as unhealthy fats, we do have those that are healthy. They are known as monosaturated fats. These are the healthy kinds of fats found in peanuts, avocados, macadamia nuts, olives, and olive oils. Seeing as they are healthy, they play a vital role in protecting the heart as far as the healthy flow of air to it is concerned, maintaining a healthy weight, supporting insulin sensitivity, storing fats in our bodies, and maintaining high and healthy energy levels.

7. Fats can help in inhibiting the development of cancer

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The unsaturated fatty acids, scientifically known as Polyunsaturated fats (PUFA) are highly appreciated as the kind of fats that are so vital to the human body. Typically found in omega-3- 3 and omega-6- 6, researchers have found that they are involved in the inhibition of developing cancer cells and are also very key in strengthening the immune system.

8. Unlimited consumption of fats may lead to several health disorders

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As noted earlier, the saturated type of fats aren’t healthy at all and if taken in high consumption, they will be definitely problematic.  When consumed in large quantities, saturated fats result in a number of health disorders like heart attacks, blockage of arteries and so many other issues, most of which are health-related.

9. Fat cells do not disappear

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Contrary to common belief, even when we are talking about weight loss, it doesn’t mean that we lose fat and the fat has disappeared from our bodies. Fat cells do not disappear but rather just shrink hence the appearance of having lost it. Thus when working out and trying to lose weight, our fat cells don’t simply go away but simply shrink and become smaller.

10. Fats should be included in our daily diet

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Most people believe that fats are ‘evil’ and we should just stay away from them if we do not want to die. That’s an exaggeration of course, especially given the fact that fats are one of the most essential macronutrients in our bodies. Thus, they should be included in our daily diet so that we can keep a healthy lifestyle and provide the kind of energy needed for the proper functioning of our metabolic systems.

11. There are different types of fats, distinguished by colour

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One fun fact about fats is that there are different types of fats and to be able to distinguish them, all you have to do is just look at the colour. We have the colours white, brown and beige. The white kind of fats help in storing excess energy while the brown and beige fats contribute to the heating of things up inside our bodies. This is actually the kind of fat responsible for burning of calories hence shrinking the fat cells.

12. An adult has around 50 billion fat cells

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A major fun fact about fats is that an average adult has about 50 billion fat cells. When you think about it, there are so many in one person’s body. It therefore goes to show how important they are and that’s why they are generated so many of them.

13.  Our brain consists of fat too

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Yes! Our brains have fat cells too. Most times when we think of fat, we only think of abdominal fat, back rolls, fatty arms, and so on. However, it has been proven that 60% of our brains consist of fats and our bodies heavily rely on these fats for survival. Just like the body relies on the brain for accurate functionality, it relies on fats too to survive and not wither away.

14. Liposuction doesn’t reduce weight and weight-related health risks

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Liposuction is simply the sucking of fats from the subcutaneous tissue in order to appear slimmer and more toned. However, these visible fats typically stored beneath the skin, work and act independently from the visceral tissue. The hidden fat (that is the visceral fat), usually cushions and actually supports our organs hence making it impossible to reduce health issues related to too much of this fat via liposuction.

15. Fat is pretty much light

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Compared to muscles in our body, fat weighs way less. Thus, in the journey of fitness, weight loss, and looking toned, the more muscles one builds, the easier it is to burn calories that in the long run help in maintaining weight.

16. Butt fat is healthier than belly fat

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Did you know that having a lot of butt fat is actually healthier than spotting belly fat? This is because belly fat is typically more responsive to stress hormones and cortisol when compared to butt fat. This is why reducing belly fat is the hardest part of achieving weight loss. It is usually referred to as stubborn fat for a reason.

17. Women require more fat

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In comparison to men, women need higher levels of fat than men. This is mostly because fat is essential for reproduction thus in a typical sense women will tend to have more fat cells. The brain-building fats like omega-3 are especially important to reproductive health and that’s why during pregnancy women are usually encouraged to take omega- 3.

18. Fat cells can live up to 10 years!

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Did you know that fat cells can live to an average of up to 10 years? That’s how stubborn they can be. However, when removed from the body, in the case of a liposuction procedure, they die pretty quickly. In essence, however, fat cells can live for long and that’s why in an attempt to shrink belly fat, the process can take years to achieve.

19. Fat cells do not exist in the eyelids

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If there is one body part that fat cells absolutely does not exist, is the eyelids. This makes a lot of sense because of course if eyelids had fat cells, then achieving their function would be problematic. In fact, blinking would be such a difficult task.

20. Fat cells can grow 1000 times more than their original size

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Have you ever wondered how exactly weight gain works? Well, here is a fun fact. Fat cells can enlarge and grow up to 1000 times their original size. In other words, they can puff up to be so huge but ironically shrinking them to be smaller can be quite a task. That’s why they usually say, gaining weight isn’t as difficult as losing.

With what we now know about fats, just imagine what kind of bodily function we would be forced to adapt to without fat cells in our bodies.