Which fat is best for your health to reduce inflammation? Saturated, Unsaturated & Trans Fat
The acceptable macronutrient distribution ranges (AMDR) of your daily calories are 45–65% from carbs, 20–35% from fats, and 10–35% from protein.
Along with carbohydrates and protein, fat is an important macronutrient that plays an essential role in many aspects of human health.
Consuming daily (20–35%) of fats is vital. Understanding the difference between good (unsaturated) over bad (saturated) fats helps to reduce inflammation and boost nutrition absorption.
Why are Fats needed:
- To absorb and transport fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K in the body.
- To provide essential fatty acids, such as omega 3 and omega 6, which cannot be made by our body.
- Calcium Absorption: vitamin D.
- To keep our body temperature in the normal range.
- To support the different functions in the body such as brain function. Fat is essential for brain development as two-thirds of the brain is composed of fat which is associated with nerve cells.
Unsaturated fats
Unsaturated fats are considered beneficial fats because they can improve blood cholesterol levels, ease inflammation, stabilize heart rhythms, etc. Unsaturated fats are predominantly found in foods from plants, such as nuts, and seeds.
There are two types of “good” unsaturated fats:
1. Monounsaturated fats are found in:
- Olive, peanut
- Avocados
- Nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans
- Seeds such as pumpkin and sesame seeds
2. Polyunsaturated fats are found in:
- Sunflower, corn, soybean, and flaxseed oils
- Walnuts
- Flax seeds
- Fish
- Omega-3 fats (flax seeds, walnuts, fish)
Saturated Fats
Saturated fat is mainly found in animal foods, but a few plant foods are also high in saturated fats, such as coconut, coconut oil, palm oil, and palm kernel oil.
This saturation of hydrogen molecules results in saturated fats being solid at room temperature, unlike unsaturated fats, such as olive oil, which tend to be liquid at room temperature.
Saturated fats are found in:
- Pizza
- Dairy products
- Whole and reduced-fat milk, butter, and dairy desserts
- Fatty cuts of meat (sausage, bacon, beef, hamburgers)
- Cookies and other grain-based desserts
- Cakes
- Sausages
- A variety of mixed fast-food dishes
Which are some benefits of replacing unhealthy fats with healthy fats?
Dr. Frank Sacks mentioned through a study concluded by the AHA, that replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats will lower the incidence of cardiovascular disease.
Most people don’t eat enough healthful unsaturated fats. In trials in which polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats were eaten in place of carbohydrates, these good fats decreased levels of harmful LDL and increased protective HDL.
Research conducted by the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, known as the Optimal Macronutrient Intake Trial for Heart Health (OmniHeart) showed that replacing a carbohydrate-rich diet with one rich in unsaturated fat, predominantly monounsaturated fats, lowers blood pressure, improves lipid levels, and reduces the estimated cardiovascular risk.
Overall, eating good fats in place of saturated fat lowers the “bad” LDL cholesterol, and it improves the ratio of total cholesterol to “good” HDL cholesterol, lowering the risk of heart disease.
Several independent research groups — including Walter Willett have found that If you replace saturated fat with unsaturated fat, heart disease, and diabetes rates go down. But if you replace saturated fats with carbohydrates — especially junk food carbohydrates, like refined grains or added sugars — heart disease rates don’t change because you’re swapping bad for bad.
Research conducted with over 56,000 participants found that cutting down on saturated fat led to a 17% reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease.
The brain & fats
It is observed that the body breaks down fat into fatty acids and the brain then uses these fatty acids by incorporating them into its cell membranes.
Nerve cell membranes determine what is able to pass into and out of the cell. Oxygen, glucose, and the nutrients that the cell needs to survive all must pass through the membrane and into the cell´s interior.
When saturated fatty acids are incorporated into cell membranes, they pack very tightly because saturated fatty acid chains have no gaps. Thus, essential nutrients are unable to get into the cell, making the cell less healthy and more prone to injury. On the other hand, unsaturated fats create gaps within the fatty acid chain.
Fats you should avoid consuming.
Trans Fats
Trans fatty acids, more commonly called trans fats, are made by heating liquid vegetable oils in the presence of hydrogen gas. They are formed when vegetable oils are hydrogenated or hardened to make them more stable and longer lasting, such as margarine.
Trans fats are also naturally found in beef fat and dairy fat in small amounts. This is the category of fats you should avoid consuming.
This process also converts the oil into a solid, which makes them function as margarine or shortening.
Trans fats are the worst type of fat because they:
- Raise bad LDL and lower good HDL.
- Create inflammation that has been implicated in heart disease, stroke, diabetes, etc.
- Contribute to insulin resistance.
- Can have harmful health effects even in small amounts — for each additional 2 percent of calories from trans-fat consumed daily, the risk of coronary heart disease increases by 23%.
Takeaway
In general, it is true that any type of unsaturated fat is better for the brain and body than either saturated fat or trans fat. Fats high in omega 3’s, such as salmon, can help decrease inflammation.
To help you cut the total amount of bad fats in your diet:
- choose lower-fat dairy products.
- grill, and bake food rather than frying or roasting.
- trim the visible fat off meat before cooking it.
- choose leaner cuts of meat lower in fat, such as turkey breast and reduced-fat mince.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-and-cholesterol/types-of-fat/
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000510
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18237574/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26429077/
