Fat Free Diet

Name: Ashley
Status: other
Grade: 9-12
Location: N/A

Question: How does the body compensate if a person eats a no fat diet?
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Ashley,

This question doesn't have a straight-forward answer because each person's body 
will behave slightly different.  Generally, though, the body can synthesize most 
of its own fats and doesn't need to consume them.  One of the exceptions to this 
are the omega-3 fatty acids.  The body needs these fats, yet cannot synthesize 
them on its own.  For those fats that the body can synthesize, it would make them 
if none were consumed through a person's diet.  This can have more significant 
implications depending on the diet and health of the person as well as what type 
of exercise regiment the person is on.

Matt Voss
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Whether it is yourself or the cow, fat is an animal's way of storing extra food 
energy which is not needed immediately.
The cow eats an entirely fat free diet - grass - and yet if they get enough good 
grass then cows can produce lots of fat, which we see on the side of the T-Bone 
steak.
Humans too can produce fat if there is excess food energy available, regardless 
of the type of food eaten.
We animals - including humans - are an amazing chemical factory. We take in a 
range of food types - carbohydrates, fats, proteins. Almost all are broken down 
to form simple sugars which are 'burnt' in our cells to create energy. Some is 
stored in muscles to allow the muscles to flex so we can move. Some is stored in 
the blood in the form of glycogen - a relatively simple carbohydrate. If there is 
too much glycogen in the blood then our body is able to gather up the glycogen 
molecules and pack them together in a very compact way - as fat. This fat is then 
stored in cells under the skin.

In men, the most common storage place is around the waistline - males get a 
paunch - love handles and a beer gut. For women, the storage areas are much more 
widespread - almost ALL the skin area - but especially around the buttocks, thighs, 
upper arms, and the breasts.
Eating fat does not necessarily mean you will get fat either. For centuries the 
Inuit people of Alaska have had a diet very high in fats - blubber from whales 
and seals - and yet while their body shape is short and stocky, they do not have 
high fat content in their bodies.  On the reverse, many Pacific islanders have 
traditionally eaten a diet of fish and fruit - with almost no fat, and yet Captain 
James Cook commented on how 'well filled out' the island women were, and how well 
fed the high ranking males were.

Nigel
Tennant Creek
AUSTRALIA
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