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THE-FAT-PROJECT-2009-SECTION-34--Group-2

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THE FAT PROJECT

Jason, Betty, Patrick, Alex and Neil

Overview of Project

You see ads on TV...

You hear them on the radio...

But what do they all mean? Our job is to help you better understand what all this hype is about. why is fat bad for your body? Am I allowed to eat fat? Should I eat fat? Hopefully all of these questions will be answered by the time you have finished reading our WIKI. And you will be aware of your own health, the Most important part is to understand that you conrol your own health.

Fat

Fat is an essential nutrient found in many foods that people consume daily. Fat provides 9 calories, or units of energy, per gram. There are a few different types of Fats. There is unsaturated and saturated, and there are trans-fats and fatty acids. People enjoy the taste of fat so much because we have 10,000 taste buds that respond to its taste. Fat could be considered addictive because we need it to such a degree that not consuming fat results in severe trauma.

Trans-Fats

Trans-fat is the worse kind of fat. During the hydrogenation process, the chemical structure of the natural fatty acid is changed from their original cis- configuration to unnatural trans- configuration. Trans-isomerization alters the 3 dimensional configuration of dietary fatty acid, causing damage to the cell membranes and altering the function of phospholipids-dependent enzymes contained in these membranes. This altered fluidity increase cell membrane permeability. The active transport enzymes for sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium are impaired. Such cell membrane is also subject to free radical attack and damage. A high intake of trans fat has therefore been linked to a variety of free radical and degenerative conditions such as cancer, arthritis, and cardiovascular disease.

Major Food Sources of Trans Fat for American Adults

(Average Daily Trans Fat Intake is 5.8 Grams or 2.6 Percent of Calories)

Trans-Fats vs. Saturated Fats vs. Unsaturated Fats

While unsaturated fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) are beneficial when consumed in moderation, saturated and trans fats are not. Saturated fat and trans fat raise LDL cholesterol levels in the blood. Dietary cholesterol also raises LDL cholesterol and may contribute to heart disease even without raising LDL. Therefore, it is advisable to choose foods low in saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol as part of a healthful diet. Unsaturated fats can be beneficial to your heart, whereas saturated could be detrimental to your cholesterol and your heart. Saturated fats are not healthy for heart, because they will raise your LDL cholesterol. LDL- as known as bad cholesterol.

Good Fats

Omega is the unsaturated fatty acids that people can not creats in their body. These fatty acids are crutial for brain function and are a nessicity to the health of the body, because they help you to grow and develop, as well as slowing blood clotting, which prevents heart disease. Therefore, Omegas such as Omega-3 and Omega-6 might lower the chance of getting a heart disease and might also improve your memory. Omegas can be found in food such as fish, fish oil, marine life, plants, nuts, also nut oils.

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a gummy substance found in all cells, which the liver creates to serve many functions. These functions include: making vitamin D, aid fat digestion by creating bile acids, keep cell walls healthy, and create hormones. The body creates as much as it needs to fulfill these functions. When people eat many saturated fats (in meat or dairy products), their bodies can make extra cholesterol. (Fruits, vegetables, and grain do not contain cholesterol.) When extra cholesterol is created, it circulates in the bloodstream. When there is excess cholesterol in the bloodstream there is a higher risk of clogging blood vessels because plaque forms and attaches to the vessels. Other risks include having a stroke or having a heart disease. There are two types of cholesterol: LDL (low density lipoprotein) and HDL (high density lipoprotein).

LDL vs. HDL

LDL cholesterol is low-density lipoprotein. HDL cholesterol is high-density lipoprotein. LDL cholesterol is the major type of lipoprotein that carries cholesterol into the blood stream. The problem is that when you have too much LDL cholesterol in the body, it brings too much cholesterol into the blood stream and can clog one’s arteries.

HDL cholesterol, on the other hand, is the lipoprotein that carries cholesterol into the liver, which then dumps the excess cholesterol out of the body. HDL cholesterol is good to have high levels of.

How to lower LDL Cholesterol Levels

Adding soluble fiber to someone’s diet can reduce the amount of cholesterol in his or her body. Soluble fiber binds with fatty acids and it also extends the time of defecation, so the sugar is released and absorbed over a longer period of time. These are both beneficial because they help lower cholesterol and they regulate blood sugar.

People who eat soluble fibers will feel full longer because the digestion process is slowed down, so they will eat less. This may also contribute to the lowering of cholesterol because they will eat fewer foods that can increase cholesterol.

Cheerios has one gram of soluble fiber per serving. Eating only 3 grams of soluble fiber can lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. This is why Cheerios runs their advertisements, which state that eating a bowl of Cheerios everyday for 6 weeks can lower cholesterol 4%.

Lipitor is the brand name for the cholesterol-lowering drug called Atorvastatin Calcium. Atorvastatin Calcium is part of a class of drugs called statins.

Cholesterol is both ingested in food and made in the body. Although there is good and bad cholesterol, too much of each cholesterol can cause heart problems.

The way that Lipitor works is that it stops the action of cholesterol producing enzymes. This then lowers new cholesterol being produced in the blood forcing the liver to use cholesterol in the blood, therefore reducing the amount of cholesterol in the body.

Also, do lots of excise is really helping to lower your bad cholesterol levels.

Fat vs. Cholesterol

Fat and cholesterol are not the same. Some foods contain one of these, but not the other. Liver is an example of a food that contains a high amount of cholesterol, but a low amount of fat. Nondairy creamers, vegetable oil and margarine are all examples of foods that contain no cholesterol, but are high in fat.

BMI

BMI stands for Body Mass Index. The BMI is calculated based on your weight height and for children, age. Body Mass Index (BMI) is a number calculated from a person’s weight and height. BMI is a reliable indicator of body fatness for people. BMI does not measure body fat directly, but research has shown that BMI correlates to direct measures of body fat, such as underwater weighing and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA).BMI can be considered an alternative for direct measures of body fat. Additionally, BMI is an inexpensive and easy-to-perform method of screening for weight categories that may lead to health problems.BMIwas chosen to measurea person's body mass because it is inexpensive and anyonecan use it.

Problems with BMI

Say a weightlifter weighs 250 lbs., but is only 5'10". If you were to go onto a site that measures BMI, it would say that the person is OBESE. The problem is that what the calculator may think is fat may be muscle.

BMIcan also miscalculate lack of muscle, as well. Say a eighty-year-old man was to calculate his BMI. Let's say that he is 5'10" and weighs 165 lbs. Now the calculator would say that this person has a normal BMI. But the problem with this is that this particular old person has a lack of muscle. This means that he has larger body mass than predicted.

RULE: BMI may overestimate body fat in athletes and others who have a muscular build.

BMI may underestimate body fat in older persons and others who have lost muscle mass.

Overweight vs. Obese

Overweight and obese are terms used to describe people who weigh more than what is people consider to be healthy. Overweight is when someone’s BMI is 25.0-29.9. Obese is when someone’s BMI is over 30.0.

Other Ways to Measure BMI

Right now there is no other way to calculate body mass besides for the BMIcalculator. One thing that the government did do to make the calculator more accurate is add a column where one can put his or her age in to approximate their muscle mass. Even though this works for the extremes, such as no or little muscle mass in children and older people. It cannot estimate for people in the range of about 16 to 65.

Although there is no other option for measuring BMI, one can go onto www.mypyramid.gov and calculate a healthy menu for them. This can be done accurately because on the link that goes to the menu planner, one can enter their age and weight and physical activity. Based on these 3 things, the menu planner can provide a menu depending on whether one needs to lose, gain, or maintain a healthy weight.

Work Cited:

http://discovermagazine.com/2006/feb/why-fat-tastes-so-good

http://www.margarine.org/defatnitions.html

Biology Text Book p.40

http://www.healthcastle.com/fiber-solubleinsoluble.shtml

http://www.setma.com/article.cfm?ID=227

cholesterol.about.com

dictionary.com

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4494

http://www.thedietchannel.com/Fiber-and-Cholesterol-How-Fiber-Helps-Lower-Your-Cholesterol.htm

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3045795

http://www.healthcastle.com/goodfats-badfats.shtml