Which fats are bad for you

Jakobsen, M. N Engl J Med, Ascherio, A. BMJ, Manson, and W. Willett, Types of dietary fat and risk of coronary heart disease: a critical review.

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Research has consistently shown that eating foods that contain monounsaturated fat can improve your blood cholesterol level and decrease your risk for cardiovascular disease. These foods include:. Plant-based foods and oils are the primary source of this fat. Like monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat can decrease your risk for heart disease by lowering blood cholesterol levels, according to the American Heart Association.

A certain type of this fat, called omega-3 fatty acids , has been shown to be particularly beneficial for your heart. Omega-3s appear to not only decrease the risk of coronary artery disease, but they also help lower blood pressure levels and guard against irregular heart rates. The following types of foods contain omega-3 fatty acids:. In addition to omega-3 fatty acids, you can find polyunsaturated fat in the following foods, which contain omega-6 fatty acids:. New research has revealed that fats are more on a continuum of good to bad than previously thought.

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Common sources of saturated fat include red meat, whole milk and other whole-milk dairy foods, cheese, coconut oil , and many commercially prepared baked goods and other foods. The word "saturated" here refers to the number of hydrogen atoms surrounding each carbon atom.

The chain of carbon atoms holds as many hydrogen atoms as possible — it's saturated with hydrogens. Is saturated fat bad for you? A diet rich in saturated fats can drive up total cholesterol, and tip the balance toward more harmful LDL cholesterol, which prompts blockages to form in arteries in the heart and elsewhere in the body. A handful of recent reports have muddied the link between saturated fat and heart disease.

One meta-analysis of 21 studies said that there was not enough evidence to conclude that saturated fat increases the risk of heart disease, but that replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat may indeed reduce risk of heart disease. Two other major studies narrowed the prescription slightly, concluding that replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fats like vegetable oils or high-fiber carbohydrates is the best bet for reducing the risk of heart disease, but replacing saturated fat with highly processed carbohydrates could do the opposite.

Good fats come mainly from vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fish. They differ from saturated fats by having fewer hydrogen atoms bonded to their carbon chains. Healthy fats are liquid at room temperature, not solid.

There are two broad categories of beneficial fats: monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Monounsaturated fats. When you dip your bread in olive oil at an Italian restaurant, you're getting mostly monounsaturated fat. Monounsaturated fats have a single carbon-to-carbon double bond. The result is that it has two fewer hydrogen atoms than a saturated fat and a bend at the double bond. This structure keeps monounsaturated fats liquid at room temperature.

Good sources of monounsaturated fats are olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, avocados, and most nuts, as well as high-oleic safflower and sunflower oils. The discovery that monounsaturated fat could be healthful came from the Seven Countries Study during the s.

It revealed that people in Greece and other parts of the Mediterranean region enjoyed a low rate of heart disease despite a high-fat diet. The main fat in their diet, though, was not the saturated animal fat common in countries with higher rates of heart disease. It was olive oil, which contains mainly monounsaturated fat. This finding produced a surge of interest in olive oil and the "Mediterranean diet," a style of eating regarded as a healthful choice today. Although there's no recommended daily intake of monounsaturated fats, the Institute of Medicine recommends using them as much as possible along with polyunsaturated fats to replace saturated and trans fats.

Polyunsaturated fats. When you pour liquid cooking oil into a pan, there's a good chance you're using polyunsaturated fat. Corn oil, sunflower oil, and safflower oil are common examples.

Polyunsaturated fats are essential fats. That means they're required for normal body functions but your body can't make them. So, you must get them from food.

Polyunsaturated fats are used to build cell membranes and the covering of nerves. They are needed for blood clotting, muscle movement, and inflammation. A polyunsaturated fat has two or more double bonds in its carbon chain. There are two main types of polyunsaturated fats: omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids.