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Health & Fitness

Facts On Fats

The internet is full of messages about the best fat to eat and over time the message seems to change. The current “hot” fat is coconut oil which seems to be coming forward with many health claims but what are the facts?

 

Current guidelines, whether they are from the American Heart Association (AHA), the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) or the World Health Organization(WHO) all focus on using less saturated fat and more unsaturated fat but what does that mean when it comes to food?

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Saturated fats are found in animal foods and consuming too many of them increases your risk of heart disease, some forms of cancer, diabetes and they may be a contributor to dementia and Alzheimer’s. Unsaturated fats are found in plants and include most oils, margarines made from oil, nuts and seeds. While it might seem easy to separate fats into the two groups, the reality is that animal and plant fats all contain a mix of saturated and unsaturated fats so the important message is balancing the two types of fat.

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When it comes to balance the goal is to limit saturated fats, beef, veal, lamb, pork, chicken, whole milk, whole milk yogurt and cheeses, coconut and palm oils – and use more plant fats.  Yes that list includes two plant fats but both of these fats are still on the AHA, DGA and WHO lists of fats to avoid. The main plant fats would include canola oil, olive oil, nuts and nut butters, and seeds , along with fatty fish. Yes fatty or oily fish are included with these plant fats because of the amount of unsaturated fat they contain; choosing them in place of other meats is a good way to shift your fat intake to healthier choices.

 

Last week I attended, and spoke, at the International Congress on Nutrition as a part of a panel presentation supported by the International Experts Movement on Fats (IEM). The IEM has a goal to educate health professionals and consumers about the importance of type of fat to overall health. For too long we’ve focused on total fat intake when the important message is choosing the Right Type of fat. The attached Infographic shows which fats to choose to help reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. 






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