What are Fats – Are saturated Fats are Good For You?
According to the nutritional facts, fats should be taken as an essential part of diet because they play a major role in maintaining our health. But it doesn’t mean that Saturated fats are good for you always.
Fats are known to be highly concentrated source of energy in our diet. Generally it provides about 8 to 9 calories per gram, where in comparison carbohydrates and proteins provide only four calories per gram.
As per chemical composition fat have three elements that include carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. But, it has less amount of oxygen and more carbon and hydrogen which leads to eight to nine calories per gram.
The source of energy in food are Fats and they are type of lipids, a kind of organic compound which is insoluble in water.
What is fat in food
Fat happens to be an essential nutrient of your food because it provides energy and help your body to absorb vitamins and minerals. Your diet can produce fats and cholesterol both, and body synthesize them in the liver.
Fat is found in food from plant and animal both. Foods like oils, nuts, seeds, avocados, olives, butter and fatty meats are major source of fats.
You can consume few different types of fats through your diet, including saturated, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and trans fats. Consumption of too much of fat can cause weight gain, increased levels of bad cholesterol along with other health problems. It means, Saturated fats are not always good for you. Therefore, you should be very careful while choosing healthy fats from different sources and try to limit over all saturated and trans-fat consumption through your diet.
Why are fat important
Fats are important as a nutrient that provides energy to our body. It helps to regulate your body temperature and absorption of few essential vitamins. Other than being source of energy it protects our body by providing insulation, cushioning, and protective padding to different organs and tissues.
Fat helps keep us full and can help slow down the release of sugar into the bloodstream, which can help keep blood sugar levels stable. Fat is essential for healthy skin and healthy hair. It also helps to support brain health.
Scientific name of body fat is “adipose tissue. Many people like to reduce the amount of adipose tissue that they carry, but it is important for maintaining a healthy body. Because, These fatty tissue provides.
Insulation
These adipose tissue works as an insulation and keeps your body warm when your body is exposed to cold atmosphere.
Protection
Adipose tissue provide natural cushions to your organs and protects bones and other tissues from damage.
Energy storage
Adipose tissues serve as storage for unused calories (energy) in your body. When you are fasting or not able to eat, then your body releases the stored energy in Adipose tissues for all of its important functions.
Hormone production
Few important hormones like leptin are produced and released by adipose tissues. Leptin is a hormone which is responsible for sending signals to stop eating.
Even after being responsible for these important functions you can not say that saturated fats are good for you if not consumed in moderation.
Unsaturated fats vs Saturated Fats
You can classify fats in your food in two different categories – good fat and bad fat. Its not always important to follow low fat diet, but you must focus on adding good fats and avoiding bad fats from your diet.
Without adding fats, you can not plan a healthy diet. You should add unsaturated fats to your diet because they are good fats. Consumption of saturated and trans fats should be minimised as they are bad fats.
Saturated fats
Saturated fats are also known as solid fats because they remain solid at room temperature. They are harmful but not as harmful as trans fats. Mostly saturated fats are found in meat and dairy products. Read meet, butter, cheese, ice creams, coconut oil and palm oil are high in saturated fats and hence harmful for your health because they encourage production of bad cholesterol (LDL) by the liver.
Unsaturated fats
Vegetable oils like sunflower, olive, soy and canola along with nuts, seeds and beens are sources of unsaturated fats for vegetarians and fish for non vegetarians. Unsaturated fats works against saturated fats and helps liver to improve the process of breaking down bad cholesterol to absorbe it again, thats why unsaturated fats are good for health and reduces the risk of diseases.
Trans fat
Trans fats are even more harmful than saturated fats. They are too bad for your health because they are responsible for decreased levels of good cholesterols and increased levels of bad cholesterols. Food items which are cooked using hydrogenated oils like packaged and fried food contain higher amount of trans fats. Eating such food increases level of bad trans fats in your body and creates health issues. Some times consuming in small quantity also become a risk factor.
Saturated fats are good for you or not?
No, saturated fats are not considered “good” for your health. Some foods which contain saturated fats, like dairy products could be part of your diet but consuming too much amount of saturated fat may lead to an increased risk of developing heart diseases, stroke, and various types of cancer. Experts advice to limit intake of saturated fats to not more than 10% of your total daily calories consumption.
How Saturated Fats Affect Your Health
Saturated fats are not good for you and harmful for your health in many ways:
Heart disease risk
Consumption of too much saturated fat may cause LDL (bad) cholesterol to build up plaque in your blood vessels which increases your risk of heart diseases and stroke.
Weight gain
Consumption of too much of saturated fat ads extra calories to your diet, it is a major cause of weight gain. Reducing high-fat foods in your diet may help keep your weight in control and your heart healthy. Maintaining healthy weight can reduce risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, and other health issues.
"Diets high in saturated fats appear to raise inflammation, while eating unsaturated fats can dampen the inflammatory response,"
(Vasanti Malik, a research scientist with the Department of Nutrition at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.)
Food with saturated fats
Red Meat – Beef, lamb, and pork.
Full-Fat Dairy Products – Whole milk and Creams (Research show that fermented dairy products like yogurt, kefir, and cheese can have a positive effect on your heart health.)
Butter – Baked goods with butter aren’t good for you.
Coconut Oil – Tropical oils have some health benefits, but they are high in saturated fat. Coconut oil provides more saturated fat than butter, beef fat, or lard.
Ice Cream – Ice cream contains saturated fat from dairy products, like milk fat, cream and butter. Other sources of saturated fat in ice cream include cocoa butter, coconut oil, and palm oil.
Baked Goods – Baked goods like biscuits, cakes, pastries, and brownies are high in saturated fat.
Food with unsaturated fats
Saturated-Fat-Free Alternatives. Your body needs fat for functioning properly. Replacing foods which are high in saturated and trans fats with healthier alternatives is advised. It helps lowering blood cholesterol levels. Here are two healthy dietary fats which can be included:
Polyunsaturated Fats
Polyunsaturated fats are also called omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Theses dietary fats are commonly taken as supplements because they provide many health benefits, including:
- Curbing joint pain
- Lowering blood fat levels
- Lowering blood pressure
- Decreasing inflammation
- Combatting depression
Some sources of polyunsaturated fats are:
- Vegetable oils like olive oil.
- Walnuts, pine nuts, pecans, and brazil nuts
- Tofu
Monounsaturated Fats
If Monounsaturated fats are consumed in moderation, they may improve your heart health and maintain your body’s cells growth.
Foods high in monounsaturated fats include:
- Plant-based liquid oils
- Avocados
- Olives
- Peanut butter
- Nuts and seeds
Halenesspro opinion : What are the bad fats for you
Saturated fats and trans fats are bad fats and not good for you and your overall health. Saturated fats are generally found in animal food products like meat and dairy products. Trans fats are found in deep-fried foods and processed foods.
Saturated fats increases levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol in your blood. Eating too much of these saturated and trans fats can lead to greater risk of heart disease and other cardiac health issues.
While consumption of recommended amount of unsaturated fats can help to lower LDL cholesterol and increase levels of HDL (good) cholesterol. Unsaturated fats may also help reduce inflammation and benefit overall heart health.
In general, replacing saturated and trans fats with good unsaturated fats improves cholesterol levels and hence reduces the risk of developing heart disease.
