Fat is an essential nutrient, which contributes approximately 30-45% of food energy in western diets. In technical they are referred to as lipids.
Fats have physical, chemical and physiologic properties that make them important in nutrition. In addition to fats ingested as food, there are specific lipids synthesized by the human body that are essential to life.
Fat along with proteins and carbohydrates, one of the three nutrients are used as energy sources by the body.
Energy is one of the principal nutritional requirements of man and fat is a principal source of the energy. Each grams of fat consumed supplies the body with 9 calories worth of energy. Fat is composed of glycerol and one to three fatty acids and serves as a key energy source from many cells in the body.
In addition, certain fatty acids can play a regulatory role in the body by serving as precursors for eicosanoids.
Meanwhile cholesterol is a lipid substance that plays as structure role in cell membranes and is a precursor for steroid hormones.
The layer of fat is not evenly distributed throughout the body. In men it is generally concentrated in the chest, accentuating the profile of the cleft below the pectoral area; in the chin; in the stomach and in the buttocks.
In the women, fat tends to the shape of the breast, the chin, the stomach, the thighs and especially the area around the pelvis and up to the end of the gluteus muscles. In males, of the total body mass it constitutes 3%, whereas it amounts to about 20% of the total body fat. In case of females, it is 30% of the body fat and about 9% of the body mass.
Fat in human body
