Does eating fat make you fat?
One thing up front, whether we gain or lose weight depends much more on the total caloric intake than the macronutrient ratio. However, there are reasons why eating fat is more likely to lead to weight gain. In the following article, we will take a closer look at this and also show whether low-fat diets lead to more weight loss than low-carbohydrate diets.
Fats that we consume and body fat are essentially the same. It is easy for our bodies to convert the macronutrient fat into body fat. Of the three macronutrients, fats require the least energy to digest in relation to the energy it provides and is stored with an efficiency of 90-95% (compare carbohydrates: 75-85%).
- When we eat carbohydrates, our body can burn them for energy, store them as glycogen, burn them for heat, or convert them to fat as a last choice, depending on the priority. If we eat as too much carbohydrates as the main source of calories, the excess may not lead to fat gain.
- It is similar with proteins: they can be used for protein synthesis, other metabolic processes, for energy production, or they can be converted into glucose or fat.
- When we eat fats, the body has only two choices: Burn it for energy when neither carbohydrates nor excess protein are available, or store it as body fat. So when you eat too much fat as your main calorie sources, the excess means body fat gain.
Our body first accesses carbohydrates and proteins before it accesses fats. Thus, the amount of fats we consume has no significant influence on how much carbohydrates or proteins we burn. However, the amount of fats we burn depends on the amount of carbohydrates we consume. In other words, how much carbohydrate and protein we eat affects our total calorie intake. If we take in more calories than we burn, all of the excess dietary fat will be stored.
In addition, fats have another characteristic: they have a high caloric density (9 kcal/g compared to 4kcal/g of proteins and carbohydrates. The high caloric density makes fats not very satiating.
Looking at the above explanations, one might come to believe that low-fat diets are the way to go if the goal is weight loss. In fact, the study evidence gives mixed results. For every study that reports greater weight loss due to less fat, there seems to be one that attributes greater weight loss due to reduction in carbohydrates.
In summary, in long-term clinical studies, most studies of low-fat and low-carbohydrate diets have similar weight loss results. However, both diets work primarily because the subjects consume fewer calories overall and also more protein is supplied.
Learn more here: https://examine.com/nutrition/eating-fat-make-you-fat/