Biology Blog Post
Huang Liushu (9) 3SE
Everyone could agree that they eat some foods more frequently than others. This causes the "unbalanced diet trend", experienced by more than half of the population around the world. Here are some bad effects of consume too much carbohydrates and fats, including water retention, arteriosclerosis(clogged arteries) and coronary heart disease.
Carbohydrate
As we know, there are two types of carbohydrates: monosaccharide(simple carbohydrates) and polysaccharide (complex carbohydrates). Simple carbohydrates like glucose, galactose and fructose can only provide temporary energy that plunges down once used by the body.
Complex carbohydrates, on the other hand, provide more long-term effects because they are the main energy storage products. Because of this effect, some people load up on carbohydrates in order to gain quick energy stores. This causes the concentration of carbohydrates to become higher. Hence more water is required for osmosis through the concentration gradient. This "carbohydrate loading" behavior leads to a bloated feeling and water retention and/or fat storage.
Fats
Here I need to mention one kind of fat which we need to pay more attention to -like substance found in all animal products, meats and eggs - called cholesterol. Cholesterol is used to build cell membranes and produce hormones, vitamin D, and other important enzymes in our bodies. Do you wonder whether it is good or not? In reality, too much cholesterol in the blood can lead to clogged arteries and heart disease.
There are two major types of cholesterol that circulate throughout the blood in protein packages: Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) and High Density Lipoprotein(HDL). High levels of Low Density Lipoproteins can result in arteriosclerosis -clogged arteries- and coronary heart disease. High Density Lipoproteins are often recognized as the "good cholesterol" because they are responsible for the transport of excess cholesterol back to the liver for removal from the body. With the help of exercise, the levels of HDL in the blood will increase, thereby preventing clogged arteries and heart disease.
There are 3 types of fats: saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated.
Saturated fats raise blood cholesterol and are identified by their solid state at room temperature. Some examples are butter, coconut oil, palm oil, and the fat in meats and whole milk dairy products.
Polyunsaturated fats have two main effects involving cholesterol. The good effect is to lower Low Density Lipoprotein blood cholesterol levels. However, the undesirable side effect caused by the excess polyunsaturated fats is also prominant- the protective High Density Lipoproteins (HDL) cholesterol is lowered at the same time. Polyunsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature and can be found in vegetable oils including corn, safflower, and soybean.
Altough monounsaturated fats also lower LDL levels in the blood and liquid at room temperature, they have not been found to negatively affect the HDL levels. These fats are found in foods such as olives, olive oil, canola oil, peanuts and peanut oil.
In general, excessive intake of fat, simple sugars and alcohol will cause a rise in triglycerides and storage of fat. Triglycerides are fats found in the blood and stored in body fat. Those fat stores are responsible for the formation of adipose tissue, more commonly recognized as those flabby, undesirable areas on the body.
In conclusion, we must control our consumption of carbohydrates and fats.
Information taken from http://health.rutgers.edu/brochures/pyramid.htm
