Eating too much fat increases your risk for a host of health threats. To begin with, eating lots of fat can literally make you fat. Fat actually contains up to 9 calories per gram. This means that fat contains more than twice as many calories as protein and carbohydrates, which have 4 calories each per gram. Fat is an important nutrient needed by your body to survive; but it is wise to eat it in moderation.
This is because too much of fat can lead to other health problems. Food that is rich in saturated fat can raise the levels of cholesterol in the blood and this increases the risk for heart disease. Also, the fats found in some fried foods and packed snacks among other foods contribute to raising cholesterol too. If you happen to eat too much fat such that it causes you to grow overweight or obese, you risk having, breast, prostate, colorectal and several other cancers.
Some terms you may want to understand better
- Cholesterol is a really important substance produced by the human body. The body needs it in order to produce Vitamin D, to produce hormones and also to produce some substances that aid in digestion. As beneficial as it is to the body, too much of it is overly detrimental.
- The Prostate is a gland that forms part of the male reproductive organ. It is responsible for secreting fluid that nourishes and protects the sperms
- A calorie is a unit of energy. (the details will bore you, trust me).
- Colorectal is anything in relation to the colon and the rectum, found in the digestive system. Colorectal cancer is therefore cancer (tumor or growth) of the colon and rectum