Types of Dietary Fats

What Are Dietary Fats?

Dietary fats are a type of nutrient in food. "Fat" used to be a bad word in nutrition. Years ago, your doctor might have recommended that you limit or avoid fat in your diet to prevent weight gain and health problems like heart disease and diabetes. Now, doctors know that all fats aren't bad. Some fats lower your cholesterol level and help keep you healthy. You need some fat in your diet.

Fats have many important functions in your body. They:

• Give you energy
• Keep your body warm
• Build cells
• Protect your organs
• Help your body absorb vitamins from foods
• Make hormones that help your body work the way it should

The key is to get a good balance of fats and other nutrients in your diet. Eat the healthiest kinds of fats, in the right amounts. Unsaturated fats are the healthy fats. Saturated and trans fats are generally not as good for you.

Saturated vs. Unsaturated Fats

The difference between dietary fats lies in their chemical structure. All fats are made up of a chain of carbon atoms that are linked -- or bonded -- to hydrogen atoms.

• In saturated fats, the carbon atoms are totally covered, or "saturated," with hydrogen atoms. This makes them solid at room temperature.
• In unsaturated fats, fewer hydrogen atoms are bound to carbon atoms. These fats are liquid at room temperature.

Saturated fats

A diet rich in saturated fats can drive up your total cholesterol and tip the balance toward more harmful LDL cholesterol, which can lead to blockages in arteries in your heart and other parts of your body. LDL cholesterol raises your risk for heart disease.

You'll find saturated fat in foods like these:

• Red meat like beef, lamb, and pork
• Skin-on chicken and other poultry
• Whole-milk dairy products like milk, cheese, and ice cream
• Butter
Eggs
• Palm and coconut oils

There’s some debate in the medical community over saturated fats. Some studies have found no evidence that these fats directly contribute to heart disease. And some types of saturated fat, like those in milk, might be better for you than others, such as red meat.

Trans Fats

Small amounts of trans fats happen naturally in animal-based foods like meat and milk. But most trans fats are made in an industrial process. Companies add hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them solid at room temperature, so foods last longer. It also gives them a satisfying taste and texture.

You may find trans fats in these foods:

• French fries and other fried foods
• Cakes, pies, biscuits, cookies, crackers, doughnuts, and other baked goods
• Stick or tub margarines
• Microwave popcorn
• Frozen pizza

Trans fat might taste good, but it's not good for you. This unhealthy type of fat raises your LDL cholesterol level, making you more likely to have heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. It also lowers "good" HDL cholesterol. The American Heart Association recommends that you get no more than 1% of your daily calories from trans fats. Some places have banned trans fats altogether.

Are trans fat-free foods healthy foods?

Not always. Some trans fat-free foods might still have a lot of unhealthy saturated fat in them. They might contain lots of sugar and salt that aren’t good for you, either. Read labels carefully before eating packaged or processed foods.

The bottom line: To keep your heart -- and the rest of you -- healthy, get most of your fats from unsaturated sources. And get the bulk of your nutrition from healthy, low-fat foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean protein such as fish and skinless poultry.

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