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Nutrition

17 Benefits of Saturated Fat : Overdose Effects, 31 Foods

Saturated fat is a non-essential fat since it can be synthesized by our body. It usually contains in animal product, for example in meat or egg. However, vegetable product also contains saturated fat, for example palm oil and coconut oil. Saturated fat is famously known as a bad fat since its effects for our health often lead us to suffer from various chronic illnesses which eventually bring us to death. Regardless to its dangerous effect, saturated fat contributes benefits for our health.

10  Benefits of saturated fat for our health

  1. Forming Our Skeleton. One of the excellent benefits of saturated fat is for our skeleton. We need at least 50% of saturated fat intake in order to make calcium attach perfectly to our skeletons so that they can perfectly well formed.
  2. Increasing Our Immunity. Saturated fats available in butter and coconut oil improve our immune system. The absence of saturated fat in our white blood cells make them fail in detecting the presence of viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Meanwhile, one of the most popular product of saturated fat from animal is meat. Meat can increase our immune system so that we do not get easily sick. Therefore, people who live in Antarctic fond of eating meat since it can warm their body.
  3. Protecting Our Liver. Saturated fat is beneficial for forming the gall bladder which eventually protects our heart from certain toxin, such as Tylenol.
  4. Lowering Our Lp (a). Saturated fat is important for people who are on diet since it levels down the Lp (a). Lp (a) is a substance in our blood that indicates us from suffering heart disease.
  5. Utilizing Important Fat Acid. Omega 3 fat acid stays longer in our tissues when our food intake is rich of saturated fat. Meanwhile, 18 carbon Stearic Acid and 16 carbon Palmitic Acid are two kinds of saturated fat that is good for our heart. Therefore, in around our heart muscles are rich of saturated fat. Our heart takes the supernumerary of saturated fat during depression.
  6. Important Antimicrobial. Saturated fat with short chain and medium chain are important antimicrobial. They protect us from dangerous microorganism that come into our digestion system.
  7. Important for Our Cell Membrane. Saturated fat fulfills at least 50% of our cell membrane. They give our cell integrity and thickness.
  8. Important for Our Lungs. In order to function properly, our lungs need surfactant. The content of lungs surfactant is 100% saturated acid. Therefore, it cannot be replaced by other fat unless we will suffer from breathing problems.
  9. Important for Our Brain. Our brain is mostly occupied by cholesterol and fat. The fat  in our brain is in fact, saturated. Therefore, saturated fat is good for our brain.
  10. Influencing Our Metabolism. Saturated fats that are contained in butter, coconut oil, and palm oil influence our metabolism.

It is indeed that saturated fat is important for our health. Unfortunately, it also gives negatives impact for our body. We should bear in mind that even though the list of the saturated fat disadvantages is shorter than its advantages, the illness in the list are categorized as a chronic and deathly.

 7 Side Effects of saturated fat overdose for our health

1. Cholesterol 

Cholesterol is a health problem because the level of cholesterol in our body is beyond the limit. The normal limit of our cholesterol should be between 160-200 mg. If the level is more than those number, or even until the number reach 240 mg, it is the sign that you have a serious cholesterol problem. Cholesterol is caused by the stacking of saturated fat in our body.

2. Heart Disease.

The stacking of saturated fat in our blood vessel walls will clog the flow of the blood. As a result, our heart does not have sufficient blood supply which eventually will bring more serious health problems. The health experts suggest to control the intake of saturated fat not more than 7% of our calorie supply. It is the same as 16 gr of saturated fat every day if you do 2000 calorie diet. If we have high cholesterol, the recommended saturated fat is 5-6% of the total calorie or 11-13 gr if we eat around 2000 calorie every day.

3. Obesity.

Food contains saturated fat contributes to your gaining weight since it will heap in every part of our body tissue. If there is no certain action taken to overcome this problem, the dangerous of obesity threatens us. As a result, we will face more complex health problems other than obesity, such as:

  • heart disease
  • stroke
  • liver disease
  • lungs disease

4. The Damage in Our Artery Walls.

Consuming too much saturated fat will level up our cholesterol level. Thus, our heart artery will experience its bad effect. The effect works like vicious cycle since our brain and kidney are impacted, too. The high cholesterol in our blood will make our artery bleeding and covered by plaque. As a result, the blood flow does not perform properly and it will cause the symptom of heart disease.

5. Cancer.

The development of cancer cells in our body is triggered by bad eating pattern: too much consuming food contains fat and less fibers. The most common cancers because of bad eating habit are colon cancer, gall bladder cancer, kidney cancer, and organ reproduction cancer.

6. Constipation.

Consuming too much saturated fat brings disorder in our constipation since our stomach and colon need times to process the fat. The most common illness is constipation since it works like the sign that our digestion system cannot function well.

7. Brain Damage.

Hypothalamus is a part of our brain that manages the energy balance. Consuming too much saturated fat will break hypothalamus since the effect of fat to protein and gen is closely related to consuming too much saturated fat. The worst effect of saturated fat for our brain is it aggravates the condition of someone who suffer from Alzheimer and Parkinson.

The health problems that are caused by saturated fat are in fact come from our food intake. Having the knowledge of saturated fat food bank will help us to avoid the health risk. The list of food contains saturated fat is even longer than the advantages and disadvantages of saturated fat.

31 Food Contain Saturated Fat

1. Meat. 

The slices of meat will taste deliciously delicious since it contains high saturated fat. Yet, the effect of too much consuming meat is not as delicious as its taste. The samples of meat containing saturated fat are:

  • Beef with fat. In every gr of beef contains 52.3 of saturated fat.
  • Pork with fat. In every 100 gr of pork contains 15.80 gr of saturated fat. That number is for raw pork meat. Soon after it is cooked, the amount of fat levels up.

2. Chicken Skin.

Chicken skin is indeed delicious. However, chicken skins contains saturated fat that causes high cholesterol. If we fry the chicken skin, it will absorb much oil. So, the saturated fat does not only come from the chicken skin itself but also from the oil that we use to fry it.

3. Chicken Intestines.

Food containing chicken intestines or chicken intestines satay contains saturated fat because the chicken intestines contains oil that is containing saturated fat.

4. Chicken Drums.

If we buy chicken, we should choose less-fat-meat. Chicken drums contains high saturated fat. In 300 gr of chicken drums with skin consists of 6.9 gr of saturated fat. Meanwhile, the normal suggested amount is only 1.6 gr.

5. Full Cream Milk.

Full cream milk contains high saturated fat. If we drink it everyday, it will cause obesity. Differentiating full cream milk and low cream milk is easy. Since it contains saturated fat, the taste of full cream milk is tastier.

6. Cream. 

Various cream found in bread and cake contain saturated fat since cream is made of several mixed ingredients, such as albumen, butter,and sugar. All those three contain saturated fat that is, of course, dangerous for our health.

7. Butter.

Butter is made of animal fat. Animal fat is famously known as the source of saturated fat. Besides, if butter is melted, it will become saturated oil that is dangerous for our health.

8. Cheese. 

The same as butter, cheese is also made of a an animal product. Cheese is made of milk cow. In every 100 gr of cheese contains at least 18.86 of saturated fat.

9. Coconut Oil.

Coconut oil contains of saturated fat since it comes from coconut fruit. Coconut fruit contains oil. And the oil of coconut fruit contains saturated fat.

10. Pork Fat.

Every part of pork contains saturated oil. Therefore, consuming too much pork is forbidden. The extracted pork meat  produces oil that contains saturated fat.

11. Liver

The liver of chicken, cow, goat contains saturated fat. If it is cooked, it will produce oil. The oil in the liver causes the illnesses. Too much consuming the mentioned animal liver will make us suffer from heart disease, cholesterol, and stroke. Moreover, there is 100 gr of high level of cholesterol in a liver.

12. Chicken Gizzard.

Chicken gizzard also belongs to saturated fat food because it is a high saturated fat innards. If it is too much consumed, it will cause cholesterol.

13. Yolk.

Yolk does not only contain high cholesterol but also saturated fat. Therefore, it belongs to the list of saturated fat food.

14. Dark Chocolate. 

Saturated fat also contained in dark chocolate because chocolate contains saturated oil. Even though consuming chocolate can relieve our stress, consuming it too much is not suggested because it will trigger obesity and other serious health problems.

15. Cooking Oil. 

Cooking oil is categorized as saturated fat. Therefore, the food processed using cooking oil contains saturated fat. Every food that is fried using cooking oil and palm oil is categorized as food with saturated fat.

16. Cow Pulmonary.

Cow pulmonary contains saturated oil. And saturated fat exists in that saturated oil.

17. Chicken Fluff. 

Chicken fluff contains high cholesterol. Besides, it is also a place for keeping chicken manure.

18. Ox Tongue. 

If we cook ox tongue, it will produce oil. The oil that comes out after the cooking process makes the taste of the tongue delicious. Unfortunately, the oil is the source of saturated fat.

19. Ox tail. 

The same ox tongue, the cooking process of ox tail produces oil. And the oil contains of saturated fat.

20. Shell and Oyster.

Shell and oyster contains excessive oil. Their cooking process makes the amount of oil becomes more excessive. Therefore, consuming shell and oyster too much is not suggested.

21. Crabs.

Crabs contain saturated fat. If we consume crabs too often, it will trigger the increasing of our cholesterol. It is suggested to consume crabs once every two weeks.

22. Shrimp.

Shrimp contains protein that is potentially good for our body. Unfortunately, shrimp contains saturated fat that makes it not good to consume every day. In order to minimize the content of saturated fat in shrimp, it is suggested to peel the skin before cooking.

23. Quail eggs.

Even though the size is small, it is in fact contains the highest level of cholesterol. Too much consuming quail eggs means that we pile up the cholesterol and bad fat in our body.

24. Nugget. 

Nugget does not only contain high cholesterol but also saturated fat because it is made of chicken skin chicken fat.

25. Chicken Feet.

Chicken feet contains of high saturated fat because all parts of chicken feet are covered by skin.

26. Coconut Oil.

Coconut oil contains of saturated oil. Therefore, someone who suffers from cholesterol are not allowed to consume coconut oil too much.

27. Sardine.

In every of 100 gr of sardine, contains 29,9 of saturated fat. Besides, if it is cooked, it produces much oil that makes the taste tastier. We are suggested to consume sardine because it is one of the nutrient sources. Moreover, sardine contains omega 3 fat acid that is beneficial for the strength of our memory and also our immunity. However, we should consume it based on suggested portion.

28. Mayonnaise.

A spoonful of mayonnaise contain 1.5 gr of saturated fat. The total amount of fat is 9.8 gr. Too much consuming mayonnaise will make us suffer from heart disease, cholesterol, obesity and hypertension.

29. Fried Potato or French Fries.

French fries is potentially dangerous for our health since the main ingredient, which is potato, contains high and soft carbohydrate. It is worst if the french fries is the frozen one. The saturated fat in french fries is proven to increase the risk diabetes, heart, stroke, and cancer. Children are strongly suggested not to consume french fries too much since it can cause the risk of lack of oxygen because there is plaque accumulation in our artery.

30. Brazil Nuts. 

Brazil nuts grow in Brazil. They have hard shells and  can be consumed while they are raw. In every 100 gr of Brazil nuts contain 19 gr of total fat. Too much consuming Brazil nuts can increase the risk of high cholesterol, heart disease, obesity, and hypertension.

31. Ice Cream.

Ice cream contains high saturated fat from its ingredients, such as sugar, milk, vanilla, and chocolate. Besides, it also contains food preservatives.

Since saturated fat can be both beneficial and dangerous for our health, it better if we know the tips of consuming it and the portion that can be consumed:

10 Tips of Consuming Saturated Fat

  1. Consume more vegetables and fruit which are richer both in vitamins and fibers. Make it as a habit!
  2. Consume more fish than a chicken. If we have to consume a chicken, eat it without its skin. Either, we grill it and add olive oil rather than butter, palm oil or cooking oil.
  3. If we regularly drink milk, drinking low fat milk is suggested.
  4. Drink low fat yogurt or yogurt without fat to maintain our immune system.
  5. If we consume egg, it is better to eating two parts of its albumin than eating one single egg with its yolk.
  6. Replace the mayonnaise with olive oil that we eat with for our vegetables and fruit salad.
  7. Avoid too much chips, especially potato chips.
  8. Avoid cooking palm oil. Cooking using canola oil and olive oil is more suggested because they are healthier.
  9. Avoid eating food product contains saturated fat. Replace it with food products that contain low fat or non fat.
  10. Replace every  animal fat food product with vegetables fat food product, such as grains and nuts.

The Consumed Portion of Saturated Fat

There is no certain rule about how much saturated fat that should be consumed since each people have different calorie need because of their difference activities . However, we should know that people who are engaged in active activities need 25% of suggested saturated fat. For example, if we need 80 gr of fat a day, it means that 20 gr of it should contain saturated fat. Yet, that rule is not applicable for the people who do low carbohydrate diet because they must have got high intake of fat. On the contrary, the people who practice low fat diet (less than 30-40 gr of fat), they should have got 30-40% of saturated fat intake.

Saturated fat is somehow dangerous for our health, apart from the beneficial that are offered. However, we still have to consume it but it must be based on the suggested portion. Consuming it too much will bring us to face serious health problems, even death.