Fat in the human body is composed of a three molecule structure called a triglyceride. While we need a certain amount of these triglycerides in the body in order to help absorb vitamins, keep the skin and heart healthy it is possible to have too much of a good thing. What is important to understand about fat in the human body is that it is not just a bad thing. Instead it is critical to understand that fat is necessary for a healthy life. Where people generally tend to run into health difficulty is when they have too much of the wrong kinds of body fat in their body in comparison to all the other structures. Ultimately, what you are attempting to accumulate through your lifestyle is a significant balance between the good fats, the bad fats and the habits that help keep them in balance.
First off, it's important to understand that there are three kinds of fats in the human body and which of these fats are hazardous to health. The three types of fat that are stored in the body are subcutaneous, visceral and brown fat. While brown fat and subcutaneous fat offer some value for living a healthy life visceral fat is a significant contributor to disease. Brown fat in particular helps to break down blood sugar and helps to create heat which helps to regulate the body temperature when the body is cold. It also stores energy in smaller spaces than subcutaneous fat. It's also packed with iron rich mitochondria which is where it gets its color. Exposing your body to colder temperatures may help to recruit more brown fat cells. Increases in brown fat offer no known health compromises. So the goal for everyone should be to increase your brown fat while you minimize the subcutaneous and visceral fats in your body.
Subcutaneous fat is the fat located just beneath your skin. While it does some positive things for health including padding the muscles and bones from impact trauma, helping blood vessels and nerves reach from the skin to the muscles and regulating body temperature it is important to regulate how much subcutaneous fat is in your body. Too much subcutaneous fat is a problem for health and includes health risks to the vital organs including heart disease and stroke. In order to regulate the amount of subcutaneous fat it is important to exercise frequently and maintain a healthy diet of nutritious food.
Visceral fat is the real culprit in the trio of fats in the body. Visceral fat is the fat that is stored in between your internal organs. This type of body fat is the one responsible for the greatest amount of health risks like heart disease, Alzheimers, type 2 diabetes, stroke and many forms of cancer. If brown fat is the fat to look at in order to increase health visceral fat is the polar opposite type of fat. Reducing the amount of visceral fat in your body can only help you to live a life free from disease.
In order to have a healthy body composition its important to understand that the body fat composition for men and women are different. A healthy amount of fat for a man is between 11%-21% of total body mass and a healthy amount of fat for a woman is between 16%-23% of total body mass. When body composition changes from that of a healthy status to an obese state the health risks multiply. Everything from an increase in all cause mortality, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, gallbladder disease, stroke, osteo-arthritis to sleep apnea, cancer and mental illness all stem from being in an obese state.
Understanding that obesity is a huge contributor to disease is only the tip of the iceberg. What to actually do about it is the most important next step. Living a lifestyle consisting of frequent exercise and eating a diet that helps to reduce subcutaneous/visceral fat is critical to maintaining a healthy body composition. In fact, losing as little as 5%-10% body fat contributes meaningfully to health when someone is in an obese state. Even if individuals never reach their ideal body composition or if they begin this transition later in life there are the significant benefits of longevity and reduced health risks as they become less obese.
When you really understand the types of fat, their functions in the human body and the implications of living an obese lifestyle you start to understand that too much of a good thing is a big problem. You need a certain amount of fat in your body to be healthy. However, too much subcutaneous and visceral fat is long term detrimental to living a full healthy life. You are ultimately in the drivers seat when it comes to how you want to live your life. Use this information well and you will set yourself on the road to living without chronic illness from lifestyle related factors.
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