Why do vegetables have fat?

Huh. I've been around here a few years but I've never seen that asked. Good one!

I'm guessing here....
Vegetables don't have much fat. Fruits tend to have more fat, so maybe like having more sugar, it is to induce animals to eat it and spread the seeds. Olives, coconuts, and avocados are all fruits (technically, so are nuts) so maybe it appeals to animals that like fats? Actual vegetables like lettuce don't have the tasty fat, and don't want those parts to be eaten. Maybe.

Maybe it is for storage. The seeds are surrounded by/made of fats and the fats act as a preservative? Or maybe the seeds can use the fats for germination and early growth.

Fat is not the typical energy storage for plants. That's usually sugars or starch, depending on the plant.

That's a question for God (if you have one), not for MFP.

Maybe so that the animals who eat only vegetables will get some essential amount of fat? Fat is a good way for plants to store food, too. Seeds are mostly little nutrition bundles designed to feed the baby plant until it can get roots down, and they normally contain fats. Some seeds have little fat bloblets on the outside called elaiosomes; they're designed to be tasty to persuade ants and such to move the seeds around so the plants are more widely distributed. Some other plants may contain fats for similar reasons - to get animals to eat/spread them. There are even some seeds that need to go through an animal's digestive system to thrive.

And why would you ask this question about fats? Wouldn't the same logic apply to carbs in plants, or proteins?

I can't decide whether I believe you're over-thinking this, or under-thinking it.

Eating lots of animal fat probably mostly isn't really a super-great plan for humans, BTW.

Try using this to figure out your macros:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

It's easier than trying to work it out by speculating about plant fats, or reading dozens of research papers. Humans are pretty adaptable omnivores. Get enough protein, enough fats (the plant ones are good for you, BTW), and a boatload of fruits/veggies, hit your calorie goal, and you'll do fine.

MikeLearnsHowToEat wrote: »

Hi, so I’ve been thinking about fat. Animal fat is probably a good thing to eat I reckon because it’s natures way of storing food for the animal to use later, so it’s probably a pretty good food source for us too. But what about vegetables? Like, why does an olive have fat? Or an avocado?

They’re conspiring....

I would think macro goals are an individual thing depending on your nutritional goals. A person with diabetes might have lower carb goals than others. Someone focused on building muscle might focus on increasing protein. I often try to pick foods based on the DASH diet for hypertension rather than macro goals. Coincidentally when I am more compliant about it, my macros line up pretty close to the MFP generic settings. I do find it interesting to look at each person’s approach toward weight loss. We are each unique and each have different goals. I learn a lot from other people’s perspectives.

http://lifeofplant.blogspot.com/2011/03/lipids.html

Not a fan of blogs but this has an excellent explanation about the function of fat in plants.

Some plants seeds only germinate after passing through an animal's digestive tract. Tasty, accessible fat can serve as an evolutionary advantage. The avocado used an animal which did not survive human invasion of the western hemisphere following the most recent ice age.