Before you figure out the solution to anything, it's important to isolate the problem. It's obvious that excess body fat is the problem, but what is fat exactly? Before I can definitively say what is the healthiest, most effective way to lose weight, I needed answer this question. Today, I looked into what fat is and how fat is absorbed into the body. The process is complicated, but it works.
Fat is a different type of cell than our skeletal muscle cells. Known as adipose tissue, it's found throughout our bodies. Us humans have two types of fat, one type being brown fat. It's found primarily in babies and served to keep them warm. This fat usually goes away after our infant years. The other kind, white fat, is the type relevant to my research. It's found under our skin, in our muscles, and around our organs. White fat is important for energy metabolism, heat insulation, and mechanical cushioning. Before fat gets stored in your adipose tissue, it must get broken down to almost the atomic level and reformed. Once food goes into your small intestine, fat droplets in the food mix with bile salts from the gallbladder. This process is known as emulsification. This process breaks the fat into pieces called micelles. Then, the pancreas releases an enzyme called lipase that breaks down micelle into fatty acid and glycerol. Finally, the small intestine can absorb the pieces after being broken down. The journey isn't done yet for fat. With the help of a protein called chylomicrons, fatty acids and glycerol get assembled into triglycerides. Then, they are released into the lymphatic system, or arteries and veins. Another protein, called lipoprotein lipases, breaks down the reassembled fat into fatty acids in the bloodstream (it's a lot of breaking down, reassembling, I know it's confusing). In order for cells to absorb the fatty acids, they must activated by the hormone insulin. The small intestine produces insulin in the presence of glucose, amino acids, and fatty acids. Insulin tells your cells to absorb fatty acids, glucose, and amino acids. It also directs the body to stop breaking down glucose (from glycogen), amino acids (from protein), and fatty acids (from fat). In case you didn't understand any of that, I will try to explain here. Basically, the fat in your food is too big to be absorbed by your small intestine. So, it must get broken down into very small pieces. After it gets absorbed, fat is reassembled into larger pieces. Then, fatty acids are separated from the reassembled fat and transported to cells all throughout the body. All of those fatty acids get absorbed by fat cells from your veins. This all happens under the direction of insulin, which tells your cells to absorb fatty acids. Eating foods with fat is not bad. As I have said previously, your body needs fats to function properly. Some organs, like your brain, need fats in order to work. While you do need fat, an excessive amount means more fatty acids will be stored in fat cells. In future posts, I will discuss how much fat you need daily, and what foods to eat to meet daily fat requirements. All information in this post is from this source: https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/fat-cell2.htm
2 Comments
Quinn Dunlap
5/23/2019 06:24:01 am
That's intresting. I didn't know that. I don't know if my computer is being weird, but it appears as if you didn't finish your sentence in the last paragraph.
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Mrs. Vander Maten
5/23/2019 11:22:51 am
Patrick- I have enjoyed reading your findings and also the personal aspect of this project. You described in an earlier post how you would like to help others with the information you find. Can you brainstorm ways in which you will be able to do this? Is there a way you can use it to impact the community in some way?
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