Fat - a nutrient that makes people happy and worried

Author: Cui Yihui, registered dietitian, master of medicine

Reviewer: Wang Junbo, Associate Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, Peking University Health Science Center

Speaking of fat, a nutrient that produces energy, let Emma support fat first. Why? Because when it comes to fat, many people start to "hate it with all their might", believing it to be the "culprit" that makes them fat, or the "culprit" that causes them to suffer from hyperlipidemia, hypertension, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Looking at the ways women deal with fat, they often go for "low-fat", "fat-free", "liposuction", "fat reduction" when they don't agree with something... It's not hard to imagine how much people "change color" when it comes to fat, and how much they want to avoid it.

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The "fat family" is a well-known "family" in nutrition and is one of the three major energy-producing nutrients. In this era where thinness is considered beautiful and the "three highs" (high blood pressure, high lipids, and high blood sugar) are rampant, people are used to venting their "grievances" on fat. Is fat really so unlovable? If the "fat family" is really useless, then we should simply avoid fat from now on. Why should it be listed as one of the essential nutrients for humans?

In fact, fat is not completely useless. In the human body, although fat is not a panacea, it is absolutely necessary to live without fat. Why is it absolutely necessary for the human body to live without fat? Let me give you an example to explain.

Triglycerides

You must have heard of triglycerides and cholesterol! They are the two most controversial members of the "fat family". Although they are both very famous, many people cannot tell them apart and think they are the same substance. In fact, they are close relatives belonging to the same family, each with its own functions in the body, and cannot be confused. Let's talk about triglycerides first, which have the following 3 advantages.

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➣Hunger

Because triglycerides are the body's energy reserve and war reserve. If there is no food or water, how difficult it would be for skinny people with no fat reserves to survive!

➣ Anti-collision

Triglycerides protect and lubricate the internal organs and can effectively buffer external impact. If a person with thick fat falls, he may only feel a slight bump, while a person with thin fat may suffer a fracture.

➣Keep warm

This needs no further explanation. Even if fat beauties wear less in winter, they are more resistant to cold than thin beauties. This is actually thanks to the warmth-keeping effect of subcutaneous fat.

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Cholesterol

Speaking of cholesterol, its role is also very important. There are three things in our body that cannot do without cholesterol, namely cell membranes, sex hormones, and bile.

➣Cell membrane

There are tens of trillions of cells in the human body, and each cell needs to be “clothed and fed.” The “clothes” refer to the cell membrane, and cholesterol is one of the important raw materials for making the cell membrane.

➣Sex hormones

Sex hormones play a role in maintaining male and female gender characteristics, and cholesterol is one of the important raw materials for synthesizing sex hormones.

➣ Bile

Bile has the function of digesting and absorbing fat. If the body lacks cholesterol, even if it is "frightened to death", it will not be able to produce bile.

Having said so much, you can open your mind again and imagine that if a person, especially a woman, is "skimmed" like some foods, she will definitely become ugly, lose her gender characteristics, and may even be diseased or fatal. Through the above understanding, we conclude that the "fat family" is absolutely an indispensable nutrient for the body, and we need to take in healthy fats from food. The healthy body we advocate is definitely not "zero fat" in the body, but moderate fat. The body fat rate of normal adult men is 10% to 20%, while the body fat rate of women is relatively higher than that of men, which is 18% to 25%. Arrange a physical examination for yourself every year. Most of the physical examination centers now upgrade the scale to a body fat composition measuring instrument. It is no longer a problem to regularly monitor the changes in your body fat rate.