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Fat is sugar, right?

It's certainly not unhealthy, considering the well-roundedness of the rest of my diet and the fact that I exercise regularly.
 
Well, I got to admit I don't know myself, I just always assumed fat could be made by lard and sugar, and other unhealthy food along those lines. One of the reasons I get Fat FRee Milk, besides prefering the taste, is that I assumed it was "fat free".

I don't think I have ever in my adult life checked the nutrituion label on Fat Free Milk until today, and low & behold -- despite the "Fat Free" part, there is 12 grams of fat per cup. Well, damn! No wonder this weight loss hasn't gone as fast as it should (only lost eight pounds these passed three months [making important extra changes in the diet later on]).


So, would Fat Free be the same thing as Skim Milk, because I always assume that too.

It has no fat, but it does have sugar. No they are not the same thing.

RAMA
 
Really, and no one has mentioned this yet, drinking milk isn't the best thing for human adults.
I'm getting along just fine with my half gallon a day, thank you very much.

Milk is the greatest beverage ever.

And no, fats and sugars are absolutely not the same thing.

Even if you're not lactose intolerant, Lactaid is easier to digest.

http://www.lactaid.com/

http://www.lactaid.com/products/index.jhtml?id=lactaid/products/products.inc

RAMA
 
Chemically, sugars are hydrated carbon chains. That is a carbon chain C-C-C-C... (or a ring or -C-O-C- tautomer) with numerous -OH groups stuck on it. Typically the number of C is small, like 5 or 6, and a similar number of -OH groups.

Fats are triglycerides. These are a glycerol molecule C(-OH)-C(-OH)-C-(OH) esterified with three fatty acids.

Fatty acids are long messy carbon chains C-C-C-C, often with one or more double bonds -C=C- in there (unsaturated fats) terminating in one or more acid groups -C(=O)(-OH).

So no they're generally not the same thing, although there are some fatty acids which could be considered sugar-like, while glycerol is also a sugar. So yes in the sense that they are broken down into a sugar component (glycerol) and fatty acids.

The distinguishing feature between fatty acids and sugars is that with fatty acids, there are typically many more carbons than -OH groups, which gives them their hydrophobic properties (not dissolving in water). It is the abundance of -OH groups which makes sugars soluble in water.

It is the water solubility that makes sugars quick energy. Non water-soluble molecules have to be carried inside little "containers" in your blood stream, like cholesterol and oily vitamins do. That makes them slower to use, as they have to wait for the lollipop lady before crossing the road. Sugars can cross the road by themselves :)



Biologically, everybody has their own way of metabolizing fat and sugar. For some people, fat goes straight to their hips, while sugar is quickly burned and adds little to weight. For some people, most of the oil they consume seems to leech out through their skin, and sugar is what makes them put on weight. Sex hormones play a huge role in how fats are treated in soft tissue.

Cholesterol for example enters the body with consumed animal fats (they're hardly present in vegetable fats). Cholesterol is the chemical which our bodies uses to produce sex hormones, which directly affect our bodies metabolism of fats, which in turn aggravates more self-made cholesterol, alongside vitamin synthesis, and glycogen metabolism stuff that I never got around to finish reading. ;)
 
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