What is Lipogenesis?

lipogenesis

For your early ancestors, the ability to store fat was a wonderful thing because the ability to store fat meant survival during periods when food was scarce. Today, food is abundant, so this ability to store fat is not as appreciated as it once was. In fact, it’s an important factor in the obesity epidemic that
haunts those of us living in the 21st century.

Inside your body, fatty acids, which are basically the building blocks of fat, join together and form a type of fat known as triglycerides. Most of the fat on your body is stored as triglycerides, so when you pinch an inch around your midsection, you are essentially pinching triglycerides. The fatty acids needed to make triglycerides come from digesting the fatty foods you eat, but they can also be made in your body from the carbohydrates you eat. This conversion of carbohydrates to fatty acids is the basis of lipogenesis. This is an easy term to recall if you remember that the prefix ‘lipo’ refers to lipid, which is another name for fat, and ‘genesis’ refers to creation, so lipogenesis is literally the process of lipid creation

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