I Am Your Density...

I’m still reading about lipids.  So much to learn!  Today I am just going to share a fun fact about the good side of fat:  it’s an efficient storage medium for energy.

Doesn’t sound like a fun fact?  That’s because I haven’t told the example yet.  The structure of fats allows them to store a lot of energy in a relatively compact space.  We have all read, possibly over and over, about how fat has 9 calories per gram and protein and carbohydrates have 4.  I personally never made the connection:  that means we would be a lot heavier if we had to store our body energy in the form of, say, glycogen.

A man who weighed 155 pounds, 20 of which were fat, would end up weighing 255 pounds if he had to store all his energy reserves as glycogen instead!  Energy density for the win!