December 30th,2011 The real nature and function of saturated fat has been buried under accusations (mostly false) of being the cause of heart disease and obesity for the past 5 decades that it is now a struggle to re-introduce the goodness of it.
Saturated fat is available in animal and dairy products such as meat,butter,cheese,whole milk and also in plant based products such as coconut oil,palm oil,palm kernel oil and cocoa butter.
Just like its other counterparts,saturated fat is calorie dense. 1 gram of fat provides 9 calories which is double the amount in a gram of carbs or protein,which means it is an excellent source of energy.
Saturated fat is also considered an essential nutrient vital for proper digestive functions,growth and signaling processes such as sense triggering. For these reasons and more saturated fat is an essential component of every single cell in our bodies.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend that our intake of saturated fat be roughly twice more in ratio to the intake of polyunsaturated fat. The reason for this is that the body prefers to use saturated and mono-saturated fat in most of its cell structures compared to polyunsaturated fat which is only used in certain types of structures.
This doesn’t mean that we should start loading our diet with saturated fat but rather that we shouldn’t shun away from it as per common belief. The recommended maximum intake of saturated fat is about 10% of our total calorie consumption which means we would be keeping it at a safe level at about 7%.
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