Eat Fat to Heal

Fat is not bad. Make better FAT choices for better health.

I have always been a big advocate of eating fat; some of my biggest arguments with people in my field are over the vital importance of reasonable amounts of fat in the diet.

Since most of us don't eat pure fat it is important to consider fat as part of a diet pattern. Foods rich in fats have different effects on your health depending on the type of fat. Fats in meat and eggs are generally neutral while dairy fats lower inflammation (Grosso et al. 2022).

What can fat do for you? Fat is important both in your diet and stored in your body. There is a lot of science behind the delightfully satisfying taste of fat.

Fun Fat Facts

Fats come in many forms. Many are delicious.

Louise Putman photographer: Girl with ice cream c1953.

Missouri State Archives from Jefferson City, Missouri, United States, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Blue Box of Science:

How much glycogen can you store?

Your body stores the glucose from sugars and carbohydrates as glycogen. Glycogen is normally used before fat to fuel your body.

Mikael Häggström 2009 Glycogen structure.

Mikael Häggström, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Glycogen is stored mainly in the muscles and liver.

Muscles contain 500 grams glycogen on average (ranges from 300-700 grams).

Be grateful for big thighs! People with larger muscles can store more glycogen for energy.

Small amounts of glycogen are found in heart cells, brain cells (astrocyctes), adipose cells, smooth muscle cells, red blood cells, white blood cells, and kidney cells.

The liver contains 80 grams of glycogen on average (0-160 g range). The liver releases glucose from glycogen breaking down back into the bloodstream (discussion Murray and Rosenbloom 2018).

Glycogen is made of a core protein called glycogenin which is surrounded by long, branched chains of glucose. When your body needs energy it snips off glucose for fuel.

Carbo-loading:

How to supercharge glycogen

Step 1: Exercise until you are totally exhausted and your glycogen is low. Solem et al. 2025 looked at running and cycling until the people were exhausted. You must deplete your muscle glycogen by using it as fuel.

Step 2: Rest while eating loads of carbohydrates for several days.

Step 3: Muscle glycogen over compensates after 3–5 days on a high-carbohydrate diet. In other words, your muscle store more glycogen than normal (it can double) (discussion Solem et al. 2025).

For each gram of glycogen, your body traps 3-4 grams of water.

Remember this if you gain weight rapidly after low calorie diets. If you eat high amounts of carbohydrates after ending your diet much of your rebound weight will be in glycogen and water.

You can actually 'gain' 3-5 pounds in water weight.

1) Fats (lipids) are stored energy: your body uses fat as a source of fuel especially when it runs low on carbohydrates.

Your body has a seemingly unlimited capacity to store fat. It can only store a small amount of carbohydrates (sugars) as glycogen.

When you are sick it is important to have a readily available source of energy! Your body needs energy to heal.

A 2020 NIH study showed that boosting energy levels in damaged nerves allows nerve fibers to regrow. Mice with injured nerve cells were given creatine to enhance energy levels. Mice fed creatine had some nerve repair and an improvement in limb dexterity.

Red axon nerve fibers below are regrowing into damaged turquoise axon fibers (Han et al. 2020).

NIH Image Gallery from Bethesda, Maryland, USA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Your body uses both sugar (glucose) and fat as fuel. People with greater metabolic flexibility can switch back and forth from burning more sugar to burning more fat as fuel*. You can train your body to have greater metabolic flexibility with two techniques:

  • 1) Using up all your stored glycogen. This forces your body to start using fat.
  • 2) Have unpredictable workout intensity and lengths. If your body can't predict how much energy you will need it will start burning fat earlier. You want your body never to know what you are about to do. When you walk out the door it should wonder, "are they going to the car? OR are they going for a two hour hike? Better burn some fat just in case."

If your body cannot switch easily from sugar to fat it runs out of energy causing sudden fatigue. This is called hitting the wall or the bonk. It happens to endurance athletes who have not trained their body to use both fuel sources.

How fat is used for fuel

Maximal fat oxidation (MFO) is influenced by exercise intensity, how long you exercise, your sex, and what you eat.

Exercising at a low to moderate intensity for a long time tends to use a greater percentage of fat. Examples of this would be hiking and slow jogging.

Very intense quick exercises tend to use more glycogen (glucose). Examples of this would be sprinting or weight lifting.

If you eat a higher fat or higher carbohydrate diet you will adapt to oxidizing more of your preferred food no matter what you are doing.

Interestingly, it seems that premenopausal women are better able to burn stored fat than men. This may be due to women's higher estrogen levels. Estrogen stimulates AMPK and PGC-1α activity which increases CD36, a fatty acid transporter. Estrogen also helps regulate beta-oxidative proteins that are involved in LCFA oxidation (discussion in Purdom et al. 2018).

When using fat as fuel, your body transports fatty acids (FAs) across muscle cell membranes by using transport proteins. Fatty acid transporters are mostly CD36 which function as both a long-chain fatty acid transporter and as a signaling transducer for immune cells. Regular endurance exercise increases the amount of CD36 in muscle cell membranes.

Transformer CD36

Like a transformer, CD36 assembles and interacts with many other membrane receptors, such as toll-like receptors (TLRs), neurokinin A (NKA), integrins, and tetraspanins. Together they form distinct signaling complexes which rely messages (signals) to molecules downstream including MAPK, SFKs, AMPK, guanine nucleotide exchange factor Vav, and the NOX family of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidases (Chen et al. 2022).

The Pracetas Ignite the Forest around 1740: series attributed to Manaku.

Manaku of guler, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Blue Box of Science:

How fat burns

Fatty acid (FA) oxidation (also called beta-oxidation or beta-ox). It is called beta oxidation because the FA beta carbon undergoes oxidation to a carbonyl group.

1) Fatty Acid Activation: Fatty acyl-CoA synthetase enzymes activate fatty acids by pairing them with coenzyme A (CoA)

This takes energy (ATP) and produces fatty acyl-CoA molecules

2) FA Transport: Activated fatty acyl-CoA are taken across the mitochondrial membrane by a transport protein carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (CPT-I).

CPT-I catalyzes CoA exchange with carnitine to make fatty acyl-carnitine. The fatty acyl-carnitine can cross the mitochondrial membrane.

Once it is safely inside the mitochondrial matrix, another enzyme, carnitine palmitoyltransferase II (CPT-II), can convert the fatty acyl-carnitine back into a plain fatty acyl-CoA.

3) Beta-oxidation Cycle: This cycle consists of oxidation, hydration, dehydration and thiolytic cleavage. H+ ions are stripped from fatty acids. The process produces acetyl-CoA.

Fatty acids go through a series of reactions to make acetyl-CoA and a shorter fatty acyl-CoA chain (two carbons shorter than the original fatty acid chain).

4) ATP and Metabolic Intermediates: The acetyl-CoA goes through the citric acid cycle (also called Krebs or TCA cycle) and produces GTP (which can be converted to ATP) as well as reducing equivalents (NADH and FADH2). NADH and FADH2 are fed into the electron transport chain to make ATP via oxidative phosphorylation.

Walk in park by Susan Fluegel

2) Your brain uses fat to function.

Brain synapses can use fat droplets (triglycerides) as mitochondria fuel when glucose is low (Kumar et al. 2025).

3) Fat helps make hormones.

Fats and cholesterol are the building blocks of many hormones.

Cholesterol and essential fats are the precursor for hormones like testosterone, estrogen, progesterone and other essential hormones.

Low-fat and low-protein diets impair serotonin production. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter produced in the brain and in the digestive tract. It is necessary to regulate your mood and contributes to a sense of well-being. In other words, low fat diets (or high carbohydrate diet) may make some people grumpy.

Leptin reduces a person's appetite by acting on the brain to reduce their urge to eat. It may also control how the body manages its store of body fat.

4) Fats help absorb vitamins A, D, E and K as well as antioxidants like carotenoids.

Your body needs to eat fat to absorb fat soluble nutrients. Fat soluble nutrients include vitamins A, D, E and K.

Dietary fat helps facilitate bile salt-dependent micellar solubilization.

Fat triglycerides pass to the membrane of another tubular structure, known as the Golgi apparatus, where they are packaged into vesicles (chylomicrons).

Vitamins in the chylomicrons move into the lymphatic system.

5) Fat insulates you and keeps you warm.

Your adipose tissue insulates you from the cold and help you feel warm: if you feel cold all the time it may be that you are not eating enough fat in your diet. Internal fat, called visceral fat, protects your kidneys, heat, liver and other internal organs.

Brown and beige fat cells burn energy to help regulate body temperature.

There are actually five colors of fat cells with different roles.

6) Fat influences energy production.

Medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) from dairy fat upregulate energy production genes. These are mainly genes involved in the citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation (mostly in adipose cell energy metabolism). This means you make more energy.

Remember energy is your body's version of money. More energy means your body can 'spend' more on upgrades for your body like healing faster, stronger muscles, and faster thinking.

Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as butyrate, propionate and acetate, support intestinal cells and immune cells by regulating energy production. Many of these SCFAs are produced by your gut bacteria fermenting fiber in your diet.

These small fatty acids regulate the processes that make energy such as fatty acid oxidation,  glycolysis (sugar splitting), and oxidative phosphorylation. Oxidative phosphorylation is a metabolic process used by mitochondria to make ATP.

SCFAs influence immunity as well. SCFAs coordinate cellular metabolism to support functional (and physical) changes in adaptive immune cells (B cell activation and plasma B cell differentiation). SCFAs regulate epithelial barrier function and systemic immunity by controlling G protein-coupled receptors and/or histone deacetylase activity.

SCFAs influence immunity and epigenetics by inhibiting histone deacetylase (HDACs). Your DNA is wrapped tightly around balls of histones. HDACs cause histones to wrap DNA even more tightly which inhibits gene expression. Think of winding yarn tightly around a ball. It is hard to access the genes.

When you inhibit HDACs, DNA is not wrapped as tight around histone balls. Think of a loose ball of yarn. This allows easier access to genes so they can be copied to make protein.

SCFAs enhances gene expression in epithelial cells, macrophages and T cells.

In addition, butyric acid in the gastrointestinal tract has positive effects on metabolic factors. It enhances glucose metabolism, increases total energy expenditure, modulates the immune system and reduces blood lipid levels (discussion Gu et al. 2021, Portincasa et al. 2022, Hays et al. 2024).

7) Medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) downgrade the immune system which reduces inflammation.

If your immune system is TOO active it increases inflammation. MCFAs down regulate genes related to the complement system (part of the immune system) and inflammation. MCFAs are found in full fat dairy products like milk, cream and cheese.

Dairy MCFAs upregulate genes related to the citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation (genes related to energy metabolism in the adipose tissue). MCFAs downregulate genes related to the inflammation and complement system (Matualatupauw et al. 2017).

Long-chain fatty acids may influence the hypothalamic neurons, which regulate both food intake and energy expenditure (Araujo et al. 2016).

8) Branched chain fatty acids reduce inflammation.

BCFAs inhibit inflammation. They may suppress lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced gene expression of pro-inflammatory transcription pathways (NF-kB and TLR-4) (Yan et al. 2018). Pro-inflammatory transcription pathways activate transcription factors such as NF-kB and TLR-4 that code for inflammation.

9) Omega-6 fats in nuts, seeds and oils reduce inflammation.

Your body cannot make some omega-6 fatty acids such as linoleic acid (18:2 n–6). Linoleic acid is high in nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils. Higher levels of linoleic acid in the blood decreased inflammatory markers.

In 2,133 people (women and men, mean age 50 years), higher serum linoleic acid levels lowered inflammatory markers: high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), glycoprotein acetyls (GlycA), and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) concentrations. SAA and sVCAM-1 were not affected (Maki et al. 2026).

GlycA is a novel inflammation marker found in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that seems to predict predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) complications (Kasher et al. 2024). Glycoprotein sICAM-1 is a master regulator of inflammation, injury and tumor cellular responses. It recruits immune cells (leukocytes) to inflammation sites (Bui et al. 2020).

Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen c1897.

Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

10) Fat can influence your epigenetics.

Epigenetics means 'above or on top of genetics'. It is how genes are controlled without changing DNA. Controlling genes is important since genes contain the instructions for making proteins. Proteins influence your physical and biological traits. they directly affect your health.

Basically, epigenetic modifications turn on, turn off, speed up and/or slow down gene production. When genes are turned on and read to produce proteins it is called gene expression.

Fatty acids (FAs) can influence epigenetics.

Fats control epigenetics by using DNA methylation (hyper or hypomethylation), acetylation or deacetylation of histones, and/or microRNAs (miRNAs) associated with the either activating or repressing genes (González-Becerra et al. 2019):

Methyl groups (-CH3) (hyper or hypomethylation) are added or removed on top of DNA. this can turn genes on and off. Turning off a gene is called silencing the gene.

Histones are large globes that your DNA strands wrap around for compaction. Think of thread wrapping around a spool.

Adding acetyl groups (-COCH3) to histones can cause regions of the DNA to lift away from the histones. This makes the DNA more open and accessible which increases gene expression (i.e. easier for genes to get turned on). 

Other histone modifications coil DNA more tightly around the histones which makes genes less accessible and inhibits gene expression. Turns off genes.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding pieces of RNA that are able to regulate gene expression, at both the cytoplasmic and nuclear level (Catalanotto et al. 2016).

Omega-3 PUFA (EPA and DHA) and MUFA (oleic and palmitoleic acid) were associated improved metabolic health.

Some omega-6 PUFA, some saturated fatty acids (stearic and palmitic), and trans fatty acids (elaidic), have been linked with decreased metabolic health (obesity, T2D, pro-inflammatory profile, atherosclerosis and IR).

Butyric acid inhibits histone deacetylases (HDAC) and is associated with histone deacetylation (discussion González-Becerra et al. 2019).

Blue Box of Science:

Your body makes short chained fatty acids (SCFA)

SCFAs are produced by gut bacteria fermenting dietary fiber. They mainly use non-digestible polysaccharides including dietary fibers and resistant starches. Resistant starches are starches that are not digested in the small intestine. These include cell walls of whole grains, beans, legumes and seeds; unripe bananas, and the starch that forms when you cool down some starchy foods like rice. There is also evidence that SCFAs can be derived from protein and amino acid fermentation.

SCFAs-producing bacteria are usually beneficial gut bacteria. The community of microbiota living in your gut plays an important part in your health. These microorganism create a barrier against pathogens, help regulate metabolism, shape immunity, and influence nutrient and drug absorption (discussion Fusco et al. 2023).

SCFAs have 2-6 carbon chains. The main SCFAs made by the gut are acetate (C2) at 60%, propionate (C3) at 20%, and butyrate (C4) at 20%. Of these three SCFAs butyrate, produced by the Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae bacteria families, has the greatest physiological effect on human health (discussion Fusco et al. 2023).

How to increase SCFA production

Eating a high fiber diet increases SCFAs, especially acetate and butyrate.

Prebiotics increase SCFA production. High doses of arabinoxylan oligosaccharides (AXOS) from wheat bran extract and/or enriched bread (over 7.5 g per day) increased total SCFAs, butyrate, acetate, and propionate (François et al. 2012, Damen et al. 2012).

Probiotics, such as Lactobacillusspecies, increase SCFAs (discussion in Fusco et al. 2023).

SCFAs influence glucose metabolism

Gut microbial composition and SCFAs production influence glucose metabolism. SCFAs are involved in obesity, insulin resistance (IR), and type 2 diabetes (T2D) (Portincasa et al. 2022). SCFAs influence many processes in your body including cancer!

Blue iris by Susan Fluegel

*I talk a lot about burning sugar and fat as fuel. Burning is a chemical change not a physical change. Burning unlocks the potential energy in a food. Nutrients are broken up into molecules and electrons which go on to create energy.

By Susan Fluegel PHD Nutritional Biochemistry and Lori Wood MS Human Nutrition.

*Names and some minor identifying details in all stories in this website are changed to protect people's privacy.

I'm not your doctor so this is not medical information or advice. I'm just a person who would like to see you happy and healthy. If you have any questions or concerns about starting an exercise regiment, diet program, or supplements please consult a professional.

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