Why is fat the body’s preferred way of storing energy?

Energy Storage in the Body

As a consequence of digestion, energy is delivered to the body in three forms: (1) lipids (fats), (2) amino acids (the breakdown products of proteins), and (3) glucose (a simple sugar that is the breakdown product of complex carbohydrates, that is, starches and sugars).

The body uses energy continuously, but its consumption is intermittent; therefore, it must store energy for use in the intervals between meals. Energy is stored in three forms: fats, glycogen, and proteins. Most of the body’s energy reserves are stored as fats, relatively little as glycogen and proteins (see Figure 12.2). Thus, changes in the body weights of adult humans are largely a consequence of changes in the amount of their stored body fat.

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Why is fat the body’s preferred way of storing energy? Glycogen, which is largely stored in the liver and muscles, might be expected to be the body’s preferred mode of energy storage because it is so readily converted to glucose—the body’s main directly utilizable source of energy. But there are two reasons why fat, rather than glycogen, is the primary mode of energy storage: One is that a gram of fat can store almost twice as much energy as a gram of glycogen; the other is that glycogen, unlike fat, attracts and holds substantial quantities of water. Consequently, if all your fat calories were stored as glycogen, you would likely weigh well over 275 kilograms (600 pounds).