Name: Vincent Peri
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Question:
What is fat? How does it accumulate in your body?
Replies:
Fat that is seen is a result of the multiplication and swelling
of fat cells under the skin. The cells accumulate fat when
times are good. In other words, when your caloric intake
is greater than your caloric output, there is a tendency to
accumulate fat. Fat is produced by using glucose ( a type of
sugar) as the precursor molecule to create the building
blocks for the creation of fat, a polymer known class known
as lipid. Fat that is ingested must first be broken down before
it is converted into fat in the body. Thus, it takes more energy to
synthesize fat from fat than it does from simple carbohydrates.
People who calorie count need to watch the amount of fat in foods
because fat contains more calories per dry weight than protein
or carbohydrates. Since fat does not include water and plants and
vegetables are mostly water, a small amount of fat will have the
same amount of calories as heaping portions of some vegetables.
I hope I was clear. Oh yeah, there are many different kinds
of lipids (including cholesterol) that are not the same as the
the lipids that comprise the majority of fat deposits. This is
only the tip of the ice berg and my description is purposely
incomplete. Hope it helps.
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