What Is Fat?
All fat is made out of the chemicals, carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. These simple molecules can be assembled in different ways - resulting in different types of fat, and they are not all bad. Fats are classified by their 'saturation' - a term that refers to the amount of hydrogen atoms attached to the molecules of fat. There are three main types of fat, saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated. Most foods contain all three types in different proportions and together they are known as 'total fat', but each type has a different effect on the body.
Saturated Fat
This sort of fat is usually characterised by being solid at room temperature. It is the 'villain' of the three types of fat because it is known to cause problems for the heart if too much is eaten over a sustained period of time. Unfortunately this type of fat tastes nice because it tends to be meat or dairy but the general advice is to cut right down on consumption as nutritionally it doesn't do much for the body. Sources:
All fat is made out of the chemicals, carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. These simple molecules can be assembled in different ways - resulting in different types of fat, and they are not all bad. Fats are classified by their 'saturation' - a term that refers to the amount of hydrogen atoms attached to the molecules of fat. There are three main types of fat, saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated. Most foods contain all three types in different proportions and together they are known as 'total fat', but each type has a different effect on the body.
Saturated Fat
This sort of fat is usually characterised by being solid at room temperature. It is the 'villain' of the three types of fat because it is known to cause problems for the heart if too much is eaten over a sustained period of time. Unfortunately this type of fat tastes nice because it tends to be meat or dairy but the general advice is to cut right down on consumption as nutritionally it doesn't do much for the body. Sources:
- Meat products
- Dairy products
- Processed foods such as cakes, biscuits, pastries, crisps etc.
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