Good fat?

chmie662

Does anyone have any info on monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat? I tried looking online and couldn't find a lot of info.
According to MFP it doesn't give you an allowance for those types of fats, but I thought I remember reading somewhere that certain types of fat help you lose weight. Any info helps. Thank you : )

cowpacino

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1bKvLrz_lI

yes it's a cooking show about making fried chicken, but he really explains fats well in this clip

ande2994

I know that Omega-3 fatty acids are the good fats, but I don't think they're listed anywhere on a nutrition label.

According to Wikipedia, "The health benefits of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids — DHA and EPA omega-3 — are the best-known. These benefits were discovered in the 1970s by researchers studying the Greenland Inuit Tribe. The Greenland Inuit people consumed large amounts of fat from seafood, but displayed virtually no cardiovascular disease. The high level of omega-3 fatty acids consumed by the Inuit reduced triglycerides, heart rate, blood pressure, and atherosclerosis. [...] As macronutrients, fats are not assigned recommended daily allowances. [...]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid#Daily_values

neurochamp

I'm a biology professor, and I explain this to my students (mostly non-biology majors)...usually with pictures, but here goes:

Fats are very energy-dense (about twice as much energy per gram as carbs or protein), and they're also a critical component of every cell in your body.

Fatty acids (major component of all fats) are chain-like molecules that can either be saturated or unsaturated....saturated means the chains of fat are straight, and the molecules can pack closely together (like toothpicks in a box), so these tend to be solids at room temperature (butter, fat on pork and beef cuts, etc) - saturated fats are the ones that can make your arteries harden and can be very bad for you.

Unsaturated fats make kinked chains (monounsaturated have one kink, poly have 2 or more kinks). Because of the kinks, the molecules can't pack as tightly together as straight chains, so these fats tend to be liquid at room temperature (olive or other vegetable oils).

Bottom line is that you need to eat fats to maintain your body's cells. Fats in your diet are also critical to help you absorb certain vitamins (A, D, E and K) and to provide long-lasting energy. Unsaturated fats (the "good" fats) are much healthier because they will keep your cells more pliable (less or no hardening of arteries over time), so you should try to make sure most of the fats you eat are mono- or poly-unsaturated.

As far as helping you lose weight...I don't know that packing in any type of fat will help much, but eating mostly good fats (while keeping total fat levels in check) will help you absorb other nutrients and keep you more healthy in general.

Hope that helps!

Chuckw40

Here is a pretty good description of the different types of fats.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fats/

hamton

The only bad fat is trans fat. You need saturated fats too. It's not bad. Just been misunderstood.

I recently came across eating too much polyunsaturated fat can cause cancer. I'm not sure how true this is.
http://www.naturalnews.com/029194_cancer_risk_fats.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2551173/

I like to keep my fat ratio as follows: 50% saturated fat, 25% mono, 25% poly.

neurochamp

Actually, saturated fat IS bad for you too (not just trans fats, though trans fats are really, really bad for you) - the American Heart Association recommends that no more than 7% of your total calories come from saturated fat (less if you have a history of heart problems; see www.heart.org - search "saturated fat").

All sources I've been able to find say that about 30% of your total calories should come from fats (which makes sense - fats will keep you fuller longer than carbs, and will help you absorb other essential nutrients and keep your cells healthy)...so less than 25% of your fat calories should come from saturated fats, and 75% or more of your fat calories should come from unsaturated fats.

milaxx

My lay person 2 cents; there are food that have saturated fats in them , but also have other good properties in them that make it worth eating because the positive benefits . A good example of this is coconut oil.

RangerSteve

The only bad fat is trans fat. You need saturated fats too. It's not bad. Just been misunderstood.

I recently came across eating too much polyunsaturated fat can cause cancer. I'm not sure how true this is.
http://www.naturalnews.com/029194_cancer_risk_fats.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2551173/

I like to keep my fat ratio as follows: 50% saturated fat, 25% mono, 25% poly.

I'm glad someone finally posted this.

RangerSteve

Actually, saturated fat IS bad for you too (not just trans fats, though trans fats are really, really bad for you) - the American Heart Association recommends that no more than 7% of your total calories come from saturated fat (less if you have a history of heart problems; see www.heart.org - search "saturated fat").

All sources I've been able to find say that about 30% of your total calories should come from fats (which makes sense - fats will keep you fuller longer than carbs, and will help you absorb other essential nutrients and keep your cells healthy)...so less than 25% of your fat calories should come from saturated fats, and 75% or more of your fat calories should come from unsaturated fats.

The American Heart Association is also guilty of mixing up causation and correlation. Just because people eat a lot of saturated fat and have high levels of heart disease doesn't mean saturated fat IS the cause of that heart disease. There are plenty of people who eat a high saturated fat diet and do not have heart disease. We can look at the Inuit people of northern Canada for a perfect example of this.

There is also plenty of anecdotal evidence of many people who eat eggs every day, bacon, beef, etc and have very low cholesterol and no heart disease present. This is because they exercise constantly. Once again, causation doesn't equal correlation. Saturated fat is NOT bad for you.

Finally, as someone else mentioned, there is the entire argument of MCT's (medium chain triglycerides) as well since they have a different effect on the body compared to other saturated fats.