Body fat

Body fat is one of the elements of our body that is most rejected by all of us, we often seek to avoid it, to get rid of it because we consider it harmful to our health and affect our aesthetics. Although it is true that excess body fat can trigger severe affectations for our organism, in the right measure, we can obtain great benefits from the use of it. There are many internal processes that occur in our body, where fat intervenes in a positive way.

To better understand how body fat can be useful to us and what functions it performs in our body, we present the following guide, where we will go into some basic aspects on this subject.

Definition

The fat found in our body is made up of fatty acids combined with glycerin. It is an organic substance and the level of its presence in our body will depend significantly on our diet, metabolism and physical activity. Body fat is characterized by occupying a large volume compared to its weight, contrary to popular belief, fat is one of the elements that occupies less weight in our body if we consider the space it covers. A few kilos of excess fat can be enough to make us notice that we are overweight, that is why sometimes it is better to take as a reference the measurements we make with a tape measure than the weighing itself to know if we are losing or gaining body fat, since tissues, muscles and bones weigh significantly more than fat.

Functions of body fat

Protective function: Body fat has a protective function in our body, it has a large volume compared to the weight it occupies and is distributed semi-uniformly around our body. In this way, body fat is useful in cushioning external impacts, since it reacts as a soft layer that assimilates and absorbs the blows, preventing them from reaching vital areas such as organs, tissues and bones with greater force.

Absorption of vitamins: It is known that many vitamins have the characteristic of being liposoluble, this means that they need the presence of fat to be incorporated into our system and be absorbed by our body. In this way, body fat provides the space for our body to receive and assimilate the incorporation of these vitamins with total effectiveness.

Some fat-soluble vitamins of great importance are:

• Vitamin A

• Vitamin C

• Vitamin D

• Vitamin E

• Vitamin K

• Vitamin B1 (thiamine)

• Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)

• Vitamin B3 (niacin)

Maintains body temperature: Body fat is very useful in maintaining body temperature. Its presence allows the body to maintain an optimal temperature in situations of exposure to low temperatur