# Is it possible to eat too little fat?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 25, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495 "2007-05-25T15:55:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@6drufly9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6drufly9)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/1 "2007-05-25T15:55:50Z")
Some “Healthy” people are so averse to consuming fat that they avoid it at all cost. Low fat and no fat foods make up the largest part of their diets. Is it possible to consume too little fat in one’s diet? How little is too little and what would some of the symptoms of too little fat consumption be?
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/2 "2007-05-25T16:02:49Z")
AFAIK, yes. There is a form of malnutrition called “Rabbit starvation” which comes when the person eats only very lean meats (as in rabbit) without supplementing it with fat. Googling the term will yield more info until somebody with a little more expertise in the area shows up.
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### Author:  [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/3 "2007-05-25T16:06:02Z")
Fats/cholesterol are necessary for the maintenance of the immune system, and for normal development in childhood through puberty, etc. Just not in the amounts consumed in todays sedentary lifestyles.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/4 "2007-05-25T16:06:15Z")
“Low fat and no fat foods” covers a lot of territory. There’s a big difference between something that’s naturally fat-free (e.g. celery) vs. a processed food that’s had the fat removed (e.g. fat-free cheese). The latter usually contains lots of other things, like sugar.
Your body needs fat. If you go long enough without any, the primary symptom would be death.
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### Author:  [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/5 "2007-05-25T16:07:52Z")
One thing that helps a lot to ward off “fat deficiency” is that the body can convert simple carbohydrates to fat.
For people that eat super-duper cleanly – with little fat and little simple carbs – over a long period of time, it’s possible to deplete the cushioning fat around the internal organs (this is not uncommon in bodybuilders dieting down for competition). My understanding is that the depletion of these fat stores carries a risk, but I’ve not actually read of a person having a direct injury as a result. Someone else may well post different.
I also once read an article about fitness competition (very roughly, for the uninitiated: a combination of bodybuilding and floor gymnastics) in which a competitor stressed that her low bodyfat levels – necessary to optimally present her physique – facilitated various soft-tissue injuries due to the lack of cushioning fat.
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### Author:  [@charizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/charizard)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/6 "2007-05-25T16:08:05Z")
In theory yes. There is such as thing as “essential fatty acids” - that is, your body needs them and can’t synthesize them from other things. But in reality the necessary amount is so small that in order \*not \* get it you’d have to be on a starvation diet and would have worse things to worry about.
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### Author:  [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/7 "2007-05-25T16:10:22Z")
Well, here’s what fats do:
- Transport fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K throughout the body.
- Some essential fatty acids are used by the body for structural, hormonal and electrical functions rather than for energy.
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### Author:  [@charizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/charizard)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/8 "2007-05-25T16:12:35Z")
[QUOTE=bordelond]
One thing that helps a lot to ward off “fat deficiency” is that the body can convert simple carbohydrates to fat.
[/QUOTE]
Cite?
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### Author:  [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/9 "2007-05-25T16:15:40Z")
Here’s [the fitness-competition article I was referring to above](http://www.billdobbins.com/PUBLIC/pages/contests/2002_contests/Jantana/gymnastics_danger.html). The low-bodyfat angle is just a one-off tangent within that article, so I’ve quoted from it here:
> [@](#):
>
> “I hurt my calf training for the show,” Kelly reports. “The problem is doing gymnastics on a wood floor instead of a mat - plus the fact that I was dehydrated and had low body fat to look hard and defined. When you do gymnastics competitions you are on a mat, not a hard floor and you don’t have to deplete your body the way you do for fitness.”
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/10 "2007-05-25T16:16:29Z")
[QUOTE=Common Tater]
Fats/cholesterol are necessary for the maintenance of the immune system, and for normal development in childhood through puberty, etc. Just not in the amounts consumed in todays sedentary lifestyles.
[/QUOTE]
They are also required to build and maintain the lipid layer of the cell membrane of every cell in your body. The brain, nerves and eyes are almost entirely composed of fat. Pediatricians hand out pamphlets and lecture new parents that a low-fat diet is almost always completely inappropriate for infants and toddlers under 2 in whom these structures are developing incredibly rapidly.
But I have noticed that the terminology is changing - baby formulas don’t advertise “full of fat”, they note that they have “lipids DHA and ARA”, which are “nutrients found in mother’s milk”. I guess “lipids” and “nutrients” are more acceptable terms to parents schooled in the “fat is bad” myth. [Example.](http://readthehook.com/images/issues/2007/0601/news-samsformula.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/11 "2007-05-25T16:21:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> …and you don’t have to deplete your body the way you do for fitness
The mind boggles.
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### Author:  [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/12 "2007-05-25T16:28:48Z")
[QUOTE=charizard]
Cite?
[/QUOTE]
[Certainly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate_metabolism%22'):
> [@](#):
>
> Carbohydrates are a superior short-term energy reserve for organisms, because they are much simpler to metabolize than fats or proteins. In animals, all dietary carbohydrates are delivered to cells in the form of glucose. Carbohydrates are typically stored as long polymers of glucose molecules with Glycosidic bonds for structural support (e.g. chitin, cellulose) or energy storage (e.g. glycogen, starch). However, the strong affinity of carbohydrates for water makes storage of large quantities of carbohydrates inefficient due to the large molecular weight of the solvated water-carbohydrate complex. **In some organisms, excess carbohydrates are catabolised to form Acetyl-CoA, where they enter the fatty acid synthesis pathway.** Fatty acids, triglycerides, and other lipids are commonly used for long-term energy storage. The hydrophobic character of lipids makes them a much more compact form of energy storage than hydrophilic carbohydrates.
See also Robert Haas’s early-80s book _Eat to Win_, which can be found in large bookstores and libraries.
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### Author:  [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/13 "2007-05-25T16:29:59Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866]
The mind boggles.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah … it’s a matter of perspective, apparently.
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/14 "2007-05-25T16:39:13Z")
The fitness competitor bit is kinda misleading. The women have low bodyfat levels, but they’re probably not getting them through a low-fat diet. Most of the diets that those competitors use would probably qualify as low-carb if you’re looking for a simple description.
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### Author:  [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/15 "2007-05-25T16:44:18Z")
These cites for the conversion of simple carbohydrates (i.e. sugars) to fat are more detailed than what I gave above:
> **[Carbohydrate metabolism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate_metabolism)**
>
> Carbohydrate metabolism is the whole of the biochemical processes responsible for the metabolic formation, breakdown, and interconversion of carbohydrates in living organisms. Carbohydrates are central to many essential metabolic pathways. Plants synthesize carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water through photosynthesis, allowing them to store energy absorbed from sunlight internally. When animals and fungi consume plants, they use cellular respiration to break down these stored carbohydrates ...
Carbohydrates are a superior short-term energy reserve for organisms, because they are much simpler to metabolize than fats or proteins. In animals, all dietary carbohydrates are delivered to cells in the form of glucose. Carbohydrates are typically stored as long polymers of glucose molecules with Glycosidic bonds for structural support (e.g. chitin, cellulose) or energy storage (e.g. glycogen, starch). However, the strong affinity of carbohydrates for water makes storage of large quantities of carbohydrates inefficient due to the large molecular weight of the solvated water-carbohydrate complex. In some organisms, excess carbohydrates are catabolised to form Acetyl-CoA, where they enter the fatty acid synthesis pathway. Fatty acids, triglycerides, and other lipids are commonly used for long-term energy storage. The hydrophobic character of lipids makes them a much more compact form of energy storage than hydrophilic carbohydrates.
> **[Acetyl-CoA synthetase](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetyl_Co-A_synthetase)**
>
> Acetyl-CoA synthetase (ACS), also commonly known as Acetate—CoA ligase or acetyl activating enzyme, is an enzyme (EC 6.2.1.1) of the ligase class of enzymes which catalyze the formation of new chemical bonds between two molecules. As such, it is involved in a wide range of biochemical pathways across both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms, the latter of which rely on it as their only route for acetate activation. The two molecules joined that make up acetyl-CoA are acetate and coenzyme A (CoA)...
> [@](#):
>
> Acetyl Co-A synthetase is an enzyme (EC 6.2.1.1) involved metabolism in of carbon sugars. … Acetyl Co-A can also be used in fatty acid synthesis and a common function of the synthetase is to produce acetyl Co-A for this purpose.
Wikipedia’s source for the above: Ikeda, Yukio; J Yamamoto & M Okamura et al. (Sep 7), [“Transcriptional regulation of the murine acetyl CoA synthetase 1 gene through multiple clustered binding sites for SREBPs and a single neighboring site for Sp1”](http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/abstract/M103848200v1), J. Biol. Chem 276 (36): 34259-69
> **[Fatty acid synthesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid_synthesis)**
>
> In biochemistry, fatty acid synthesis is the process by which fatty acids, the fundamental building blocks of fats, are derived from metabolic intermediates through the coordinated actions of enzymes. Fatty acids (FAs), comprise a large group of chemically heterogeneous compounds. Each fatty acid is composed of a carboxylic acid attached to an aliphatic hydrocarbon chain, of which is either saturated or unsaturated. FAs prove crucial within the cell, as these molecules serve as the indispensabl...
> [@](#):
>
> Fatty acids are formed by the action of Fatty acid synthases from acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA precursors.
Wikipedia’s source for the above: [http://web.indstate.edu/thcme/mwking/lipid-synthesis.html#synthesis](http://web.indstate.edu/thcme/mwking/lipid-synthesis.html#synthesis)
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### Author:  [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/16 "2007-05-25T16:48:35Z")
[QUOTE=ultrafilter]
The fitness competitor bit is kinda misleading. The women have low bodyfat levels, but they’re probably not getting them through a low-fat diet. Most of the diets that those competitors use would probably qualify as low-carb if you’re looking for a simple description.
[/QUOTE]
… you know … I misinterpreted the OP’s question. I jumped mentally from “low fat consumption” to “low bodyfat”. Never mind me :o
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### Author:  [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/17 "2007-05-25T17:02:01Z")
I once stayed with a family that lived on a farm in rural Brazil and ate very simply (mostly beans, grains, and fruit, with very little meat and no processed food at all).
They had to consciously add fat and salt to their diet because they weren’t getting enough.
mmm … [queijo coalho](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queijo_coalho) …
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### Author:  [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/18 "2007-05-25T18:36:00Z")
[QUOTE=bordelond]
These cites for the conversion of simple carbohydrates (i.e. sugars) to fat are more detailed than what I gave above:
…
[/QUOTE]
I have to ask: Are these fats (the ones that get stored in cells around our waists, for instance) available/useful for things like building neural tissue, etc., or are they only good for energy storage?
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### Author:  [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/19 "2007-05-25T19:45:23Z")
No medical cite but I’ll note that Weight Watchers specifies getting enough healthy fats each day (for example olive oil, canola, nuts, etc - as opposed to mug full o’ lard). I snack on nuts, peanut butter, use a bit of olive oil in my salad dressings and when cooking, that kind of thing.
I’ve noticed that if I’m eating extremely low fat foods I very quickly get a craving for fats - the body seems to have a pretty good feedback mechanism in place!
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-eat-too-little-fat/405495/20 "2007-05-25T19:49:44Z")
The body cannot synthesize the _essential fatty acids_. Any diet must provide essential fatty acids or the person will eventually die. And the essential fatty acids are found in certain polyunsaturated fats.
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