Dietary fat tends to have a bad reputation. Despite what you may have heard, eating fat doesn’t make you fat — as long as you eat it in moderation. In fact, fat is an essential part of a balanced diet. According to Healthline, our bodies need dietary fat for many different biological processes, and not getting enough fat can make it harder for our bodies to function the way they should, leading to a whole range of health issues.
Here are some of the Essential Roles that Dietary Fat play in your body:
- Helps you absorb vitamins. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble, meaning your body can absorb them only when you consume them along with fat. A lack of fat in your diet can cause deficiencies in these vitamins, which can lead to a variety of health issues.
- Supports cell growth. Fat provides structure to the outer membrane of every cell in your body.
- Supports brain and eye health. The omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) help maintain the health of your brain, central nervous system, and retinas. Your body doesn’t make these fatty acids — you can only get them from your diet.
- Wound healing. Essential fatty acids play a key role in wound healing and blood clotting.
- Hormone production. Your body needs dietary fat in order to make specific hormones, including the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen.
- Source of energy. Each gram of fat you consume provides you with about 9 calories of energy. For comparison, each gram of carbohydrate or protein yields only 4 calories of energy.
Good vs. Bad Fats
Of course, there are “Good” (healthy) fats and “Bad” (unhealthy) fats, so it’s important to know the difference, and to look for them on labels when you go grocery shopping.
- Trans fats, which are found primarily in partially hydrogenated oils, are the least healthy type of fat for your body. Hydrogenated oils are often used to improve the taste and shelf life of processed foods. Your body doesn’t need trans fats. Eating a lot of this type of fat can raise your risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
- Saturated fats are found mostly in animal products such as meat, eggs, and dairy products. These fats tend to be solid at room temperature. The USDA recommends getting less than 10 percent of your daily calories from saturated fats. Current research suggests that replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fat is associated with a lower risk of heart disease.
- To maintain good health, most of your fats should be Monounsaturated or Polyunsaturated. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), monounsaturated fats can help reduce the LDL (“bad”) cholesterol in your blood. This can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. Unlike saturated fats, monounsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature.
- Polyunsaturated fats are known as “essential fats” because your body can’t make them — that’s why you need to get them from the food you eat. For example, Omega-3 fatty acids are a specific type of polyunsaturated fat that can help reduce your risk of heart disease, protect you against irregular heart rate, and help lower your blood pressure.
How to tell if you’re not getting enough Fat in your Diet
Dietary fat deficiency is rare in healthy people who eat a balanced, nutritious diet. However, some conditions can put you at risk for fat deficiency, such as: eating disorders, large bowel resection (colectomy), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), cystic fibrosis, pancreatic insufficiency, an extremely low fat diet.
Here are some of the warning signs that you’re not getting enough fat in your diet.
Fat-Soluble Vitamin deficiencies, most notably, vitamins A, D, E, and K. You may have a vitamin deficiency (and therefore not be getting enough healthy fat in your diet), if you are suffering from:
- night blindness
- infertility
- swollen gums
- easy bruising
- dry hair
- loose teeth
- depression
- muscle pain
- blood clots under your nails
Dermatitis (skin inflammation), is a general term to describe inflamed skin. Dermatitis caused by a dietary fat deficiency often presents itself as dry, scaly rashes. Research has found that fat is an essential part of the structure of your skin cells and helps your skin maintain its moisture barrier. If you don’t get enough dietary fat, it could affect the health of your skin and lead to dermatitis.
Slow wound healing. According to research, your body needs fat to create many important molecules that control your body’s inflammatory response. Low dietary fat intake could disrupt this response and lead to slow wound healing. Deficiencies in fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin A and vitamin D can also cause wounds to heal more slowly than they should.
Hair loss. Fatty molecules in your body called prostaglandins promote hair growth. Consuming too little essential fat could change your hair texture, and research suggests it could also increase the risk of hair loss on your scalp or eyebrows.
Frequent sickness. Severely restricting fat intake can weaken your immune system and lead to more frequent illnesses. Your body needs dietary fat to produce several molecules that stimulate the activity of your immune cells. Essential fatty acids are also important for the growth of immune cells. In particular, your body needs the omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid and the omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid for this purpose.
The Bottom Line
Your body needs dietary fat for many biological processes. But not all fats are created equal. It’s best to avoid eating foods that contain trans fats whenever possible. It’s fine to include some saturated fats — such as eggs, meat, or dairy — in your diet, but to help maintain good health, most of the fats you eat should be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats. These fats are typically found in fatty fish, nuts and seeds, olive oil, and avocados.
—
Photo Credit: bitt24 / Shutterstock.com