Your Body On: Fat
By: Kristen Eleanor
Tags: Wellness, Health, Food, Lifestyle, Nutrition

The Not-So Healthy Fats

What’s the difference between saturated and trans-fats?

Saturated fats are often naturally occurring, and are found in both animal and plant foods. On the other hand, trans-fats (with the exception of some dairy products) are not naturally occurring, and are the by-product of food process known as hydrogenation to make a product more shelf-stable or solid, such as butter, margarine and many processed junk foods.

The negative impacts of trans-fats on health are indisputable. Found primarily in commercially prepared foods such as chips, cakes, pastries and sweets — the fatty acids resulting from food processing have lead to national-public health campaigns banning the nutrient as a whole and pressuring industry to reduce the amount of trans-fat in their products.

On the other-hand, saturated fats are officially recommended to be limited <10% of total energy intake, mostly due to their role in increasing LDL-cholesterol, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. But, exceptions and confusion exist around saturated fat as there are many different types of saturated fatty acids — all with slightly different impact on our health.

However, the bottom line on saturated fat remains that reductions in cardiovascular disease risk are seen when saturated fats are replaced with other fats. This refers to the omega-3 fatty acids, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids discussed above.

Should I limit meat since it is high in saturated fat?

Let’s go back to the PREDI-MED study, where heart healthy benefits were observed in individuals who consumed animal meats while following a healthy mediterranean style diet.

Within this context, consuming animal meats for protein in a Mediterranean diet-pattern — rich in antioxidant containing fruits and vegetables, omega-3 fatty acids and fibre-containing whole grains, is definitely health promoting.

On the other hand, if the mainstays of your meals is solely red meat and fried chicken, you may want to consider limiting your intake of meat and replacing it with healthier sources of fat and plant-based proteins. This is because excess amounts of animal saturated fat can raise LDL-cholesterol levels, which is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Are plant-based sources of saturated fat, such as coconut oil healthy?

Coconut oil is a type of medium-chain triglyceride (MCT), made up primarily of lauric acid. It’s chemical structure allows it to be metabolized directly in the liver for energy. MCTs are also not stored in adipose tissue, and are rather used for energy compared to long-chain fatty acids.

Coconut oil has been seen to raise both LDL and HDL-cholesterol levels, but LDL-cholesterol to a much greater extent which poses a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Therefore, it is not recommended to use coconut oil, and should be replaced with healthy fats such as as omega-3s, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat.

Is the saturated fat in dairy, such as milk, cheese and yogurt healthy?

Saturated fat found in dairy products, such as milk, yogurt and cheese have actually been found to have a neutral impact on LDL-cholesterol.

This is because while the saturated fats from dairy products elevate LDL-cholesterol, they also increase the size of the LDL particle. What makes LDL-cholesterol dangerous is not the cholesterol itself, but it’s small size which is convenient for slipping into blood vessels causing inflammation. Therefore, increasing the size of the LDL-particle through dairy consumption decreases these risks.

However, dairy products are usually consumed as source of protein, and not fat. It’s good to know that it’s saturated fat is not seen to adversely affect heart health, but we should still source omega-3, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids elsewhere within the diet.