Coronary Heart Disease

Fatty Acids, Good or Bad? 

by Celine Ernest

Figure 1- Shows the different stages from being anorexic to obese and vise versa.

It is important for us humans to stay well nourished, in other words, keeping a healthy diet. Staying well nourished depends on the foods and drinks a person consumes daily. Fats can however affect peoples lives, while on the other hand people can lack levels of fats that affect their lives as well. For example, there are mental and physical circumstances connected to eating. A person can discover a psychological condition that involves voluntary starvation, which then leads to a loss of body mass. The condition is called anorexia nervosa, anorexia is the third most common psychological condition amongst teens. Anorexia has affected the majority of the population as it is the most common cause of death. The opposite of Anorexia is Obesity, when a person is obese they tend to intake more goods (usually considered to be unhealthy containing unhealthy fats), without any additional exercises. Obesity can lead to coronary heat disease and type two diabetes, CHD reduces life expectancy, as well as increasing health costs. "More than 35% of U.S adults are obese.". Both conditions are caused by either the lack of fats or the excessive intake of fats as shown in Figure 1. 

Figure 2- Displays the Saturated fatty acid and the Unsaturated
Fatty Acid. As shown above Saturated fatty acids contain single
bonds whereas Unsaturated fatty acids one or more double bonds.

 Fatty acids are part of the carboxyl group (-COOH). A long hydrocarbon chain made up of a chain of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms liked by single covalent bonds. The chain can be up to 14-20 atoms long. The chain is either saturated or unsaturated. Saturated fatty acids contain single bonds between all carbon atoms, therefore containing a lot of extra hydrogen. Unsaturated fatty acids is when the molecule contains one or more double bonds. However trans fats or trans-unsaturated fatty acids are uncommon to find but are produced artificially by hydrogenation of vegetable or fish oils. According to Harvard T.H. Chan, trans fat raise LDL cholesterol levels and lower HDL cholesterol levels. Which means that once a person overly abuses trans fats, it will increase risks of developing heart diseases such as coronary heart disease. 

Figure 3- Shows the difference between a normal
artery with a healthy blood flow, versus an artery
showing fatty plaque.

Coronary heart disease can be a side affect of obesity. Coronary heat disease, is when your coronary arteries become narrowed down by fatty material (atheroma) within their walls. The arteries affected are those that supply the heart with oxygen and rich blood. Over many years the build up of plaque occurs in the artery, which is called atherosclerosis. However, correlation has been found that saturated fatty acid does not affect rates of CHD. In the text book, they mention the Maasai of Kenya whom have a diet that is rich in meat, fat, blood and milk. Maasai do however stay active and work, and are in need of those fats in order to give them minerals, vitamins, and energy. And Maasai's do not have enough food to eat for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, meaning that the next meal can be in over a day or two. This additional information does show that their comparison is too specific and should be generalized to people who consume too many of the fats such as saturated fatty acids, cis- monounsaturated fatty acids, trans fat, etc. It all concludes to the importance of staying nourished, keeping active, having a healthy social life as stress can cause heart diseases too (chronic stress). Too much of a substance will always remain to be unhealthy as our body is in need of a balanced diet. 

Bibliography:

"How Many People Are Affected By/at Risk for Obesity & Overweight?" NIH, n.d. Web.

Allott, Andrew. Biology for the IB Diploma: Standard and Higher Level. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.

"Anorexia Facts and Statistics - Futures." Futures of Palm Beach. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2016.

"The Truth about Fats: The Good, the Bad, and the In-between." Harvard Health Publications, 3 Feb. 2015. Web. 20 Jan. 2016.