Facts on Fat

Fat: Its Food Sources

You might have come across oils obtained from nuts and seeds. You will get safflower oil, peanut oil, canola oil, corn oil, bran oil, olive oil etc. from your departmental store. The seeds and nuts store energy in the form of oil. Can I consider oil as fat? The best way to understand fat is that it will remain solid at room temperature. The oils normally remain in liquid form.

You might have seen butter and margarine. Butter is a dairy product. Margarine is the hydrogenated vegetable oil. Both butter and margarine remain solid in room temperature. So it is a fat.

You might have also come across meat and poultry obtained from animals and birds. The animals and birds store energy in the form of solid white substance. You will find solid, white layers in meat and poultry. It is greasy and slick. The substance found in animals and birds remain solid at room temperature. So it is a fat.

Saturated and Unsaturated Fats

Now you are able to understand two kinds of fats: saturated and unsaturated. The fat that remains solid at room temperature is known as ‘Saturated fats’.  Your meat, poultry, butter and margarine are best examples. Unsaturated fats remain liquid at room temperature. All your vegetable oils are best examples of unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats are considered as healthier than saturated fats

However, what we see in most fats is a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fats. Consider your olive oil. It is a mixture of both the fat categories. Here small amount of saturated fat is dissolved in larger amount of unsaturated fat. Oils comprising more saturated fat will solidify at cold temperature. For example your coconut oil gets solid form during winter. In this example the saturated fats will solidify and the unsaturated fats will remain liquid.

Polyunsaturated and Monounsaturated Fats

The unsaturated fats are further categorized into two distinct classes i.e. polyunsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat. From the viewpoint of calorie, there is no difference between these two fats. In fact both are high in calories.

Polyunsaturated Fat

Polyunsaturated fats are typically liquid at room temperature and when chilled. Best examples of foods rich in polyunsaturated fat include few vegetable oils i.e. corn oil, safflower oil, and soybean oil. Other examples are walnuts and sunflower seeds. The non-vegetarian foods include fatty fish such as herring, mackerel, salmon and trout. 

Monounsaturated Fat

Monounsaturated fat is considered as healthier fat than polyunsaturated fat. No adverse effects are found in monosaturated fat. The best examples are olive oil and safflower oil. Olive oil (73 per cent) is considered as best monosaturated fat since it has maximum oxidation threshold. The oil has properties to remain stable. It will not be easily hydrogenated or saturated. The other examples are rapeseed oil (60 per cent), hazelnuts (50 per cent), almonds (35 per cent), cashews (28 per cent) sesame seeds (20 per cent).

Health benefits of monounsaturated fat

1) Monounsaturated fat provides you essential fatty acids for your skin nourishment and the production of body cells.

2) Monounsaturated fat protects against distinct cancers i.e. colon cancer and breast cancer.

3) Monounsaturated fats are considered as high sources of vitamin E. The vitamin K has full of antioxidant properties.

4) The olive is considered to have lower cholesterol and therefore it reduces or lowers the risk of heart diseases.

Recommended Dosage of Polyunsaturated and Monounsaturated Fats

The percentage of fat recommended in your daily diet should not be more than 25-35 percent of total calories you consume on a particular day. It is also recommended to prefer more monounsaturated and moderate amount of polyunsaturated..  Avoid foods with high levels of saturated fat or trans fat.

How fats are absorbed by humans?

All fats we eat enter our digestive system and mingle with lipase, an important digestive enzyme. This enzyme lipase breaks down the fat into two distinct components i.e. glycerol and fatty acids. Later both glycerol and fatty acids are reorganized into a new kind of fat known as triglycerides and this triglyceride is absorbed in our bloodstream and transported to muscle cells and fat (adipose) cells. Both these cells absorb the triglycerides. The triglycerides are either burned as fuel by our fat metabolism or our fat cells store them for future needs.