Why do we need to consume fat if excess carbohydrates are ultimately stored as fat?

Question

My understanding is that any carbs that aren’t used for energy are converted and stored as fat. Hypothetically, could a human just survive off of protein and a lot of carbs?

In: 43

Answer 1

Fat isn’t just used for energy, it’s important in a range of functions e.g. hormonal regulation, vitamin absorption. But these require essential fatty acids, which the body can’t make itself. So, we need to consume a minimum amount of fat from external resources (i.e. dietary fat) to supply these.