Saturated fat can be called as non-essential fat. Our body can synthesize it. Saturated fat can be found in animal products like egg and meat. It can also be found in vegetable products like coconut oil and palm oil. We all are familiar with saturated fat and we do consider it as a bad fat that often affects our health in a really bad manner. Excess saturated fat will bring in many chronic diseases. Apart from being dangerous in one way, saturated fat can be of benefit to our health. Some of the benefits of saturated fat are given below.
Major Benefits
Helps in the formation of the skeleton
One of the major benefits of saturated fat is that it is good for our skeleton. Our body needs around 50% of saturated fat intake for the purpose of attaching calcium in a well balanced manner to our skeleton.
Protects our liver
Our gall bladder needs sufficient amount of saturated fat for the purpose of protecting our heart from all kinds of toxins like Tylenol.
Increases the immunity
We need saturated fat for improving our immune system. Those fats found in coconut oil as well as butter is really essential for us. Without saturated fat present in the white blood cells, there may be a failure to detect the various kinds of viruses, fungi as well as bacteria that have entered our body. Meat can be labeled as a popular product that provides sufficient saturated fat. It is an interesting fact that meat is able to increase our immune system. Thus we can remain hale and healthy without being affected by any illnesses. But care should be taken to avoid trans-fat hydrogenated oils from our diet.
Acts as an Antimicrobial
Those saturated fats with medium chain as well as short chain is very important microbial. These help to protect us from different kinds of harmful microorganisms that enter our digestive system.
Necessary for the brain
Brain consists of fat and cholesterol. The fat that is found in the brain is in the saturated form. Hence saturated fat is very much essential for the brain.
Essential for our cell membrane
Saturated fat gives thickness to the cells. It holds the cells together into a single form. Around 50% of the cell membrane is made up of saturated fat.
Making use of fatty acid
Our tissues hold the Omega 3 fatty acid when we consume good amount of saturated fat. The two types of saturated fat that are good for our heart are 18 carbons stearic acid as well as 16 carbon Palmitic acid. We find saturated fat in large amounts around our heart muscles. When we are depressed, our heart takes the excess saturated fat around it.
Side effects of overdose of saturated fat
When we find that there are a lot of benefits of saturated fat, we do have to understand the fact that an overdose of saturated fat can harm our health to a very large extent. It can bring in health issues like cholesterol rise, an increase in chances of heart diseases, risks of getting obesity, damage to the walls of artery, cancer, brain damage and constipation. For avoiding risks caused by saturated fat, we need to follow a healthy lifestyle blended with the right food and the right exercise.
