For the last two decades, doctors have been telling people to avoid practically all dietary fats, resulting in the present ubiquitous craze for fat-free food. The doctors’ recommendations are based on the experiments by an American doctor Ancel Keys in 1953. He compared the death rates from Coronary Heart Disease and the amount of fats eaten in certain countries that suggested a positive correlation. Dr. Uffe Ravnskov in his book ‘The cholesterol myths’- has exposed the fallacy that saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease’ and says that Dr. Keys selected graph with only 6 countries, but the complete picture with all 22 countries shows no correlation at all.

The vegetable oil and food processing industries who were the main beneficiaries of the research then began promoting and funding further research designed to support the ‘diet/heart’ hypothesis.

As we now know, the body needs dietary fat, and it is the type of fat that determines the health outcome. We must make a distinction between "good fats" and "bad fats."

Fat is the 'energy reserve' of animals, plants and humans. Most foods contain several different kinds of fats — including saturated, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and trans fats. An average healthy intake of good fats in the diet should be approximately 40 grams a day.  Weight for weight, fat provides more than twice the amount of usable energy than carbohydrates or protein (you'll find 9 calories in every gram of fat).

All fats contain carbon, hydrogen and a little oxygen to form what are called fatty acids.

Unsaturated Fat

Unsaturated fats are derived from plants. An unsaturated fat is a fatty acid in which there are one or more double bonds in the fatty acid chain. If it contains one double bond, it is termed monounsaturated and if it contains more than one double bond, polyunsaturated. Double bonds are rigid and prevent the fatty acids from packing close together and as a result, unsaturated fats are liquids and have a lower melting point than do saturated fats.

Unsaturated fats do not increase the low-density lipoprotein (LDL — the bad cholesterol) and are able to increase levels of  high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. It is important to increase the levels of HDL as it can help in the removal of LDL by escorting it to the liver where it is broken down and eventually removed from the body.

Monounsaturated oils are relatively stable, do not go rancid easily and therefore can be used in cooking — for example, olive, almond and peanut oil as well as avocados.

Polyunsaturated oils (sunflower, soy, corn and safflower oil) remain liquid, even when refrigerated, go rancid easily and must be treated with care. Rancid oils are characterized by free radicals, which attack the cell membranes and red blood cells. New evidence links free radicals to premature aging and an assortment of diseases including cancer.

The two major categories of polyunsaturated fats are Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. Oils are described as Omega 3, 6, 7 or 9 oils, according to the position on the carbon chain of the first unsaturated hydrogen space — if the space is 3 carbon atoms from the end of the chain, it is an Omega 3 oil, and if the first space is 9 carbon atoms from the end, it is an Omega 9 oil. In general, the lower the Omega number is, the more delicate and unstable the oil is likely to be, and will therefore need careful handling to prevent the oils becoming rancid.

Omega-3 fats are extremely healthful in that they protect against sudden death from heart attack. They can also help people lower their triglycerides. Omega-3s are used by the body to produce hormone-like substances with anti-inflammatory effects. The best sources of Omega-3s are fatty fish, such as salmon and sardines. Canola oil, walnuts, and flaxseed also contain some Omega-3s.

Omega-6 fats have a double bond in the sixth space from the end of the carbon chain. These fats are found in oils such as corn, soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, safflower, evening primrose oil, walnut oil, and sesame oil.

Saturated Fats

In a saturated fat there is no double bond that can be broken into a single bond and take on a hydrogen atom. In other words the fat is "saturated" with hydrogen atoms. There are no gaps in the fatty acid chain and they are able to pack together very tightly. This makes them highly stable, solid at room temperature, and normally do not go rancid, even when heated — for example, coconut oil and butter.

Saturated fats constitute at least 50% of all cell membranes. They enhance the immune system and protect us from harmful micro organisms entering into the digestive track. Some healthy saturated fats are:

  •  Butter
    Don't give up on butter. Besides being an excellent source of fat-soluble vitamins, butter is rich in lecithin (needed for fat metabolism), trace minerals (particularly selenium), and short and medium chain fatty acids that the body uses for energy. Butter also contains butyric and lauric acids, both antitumorigenic, antifungal, and antimicrobial substances. Indians have always used ghee (clarified butter) in native ayurvedic medicines. Studies show that vitamins and minerals from vegetables are better absorbed when eaten with butter. Butter also provides the intestines with the fatty material needed to convert carotenes from plants into vitamin A.
  • Stearic Acid
    Mostly found in lamb and beef tallow, stearic acid is THE preferred fuel source for the heart. The heart can convert fatty acids into energy for itself. Lamb tallow is also rich in oleic acid, another very beneficial fat for the cardiovascular system. Palm oil, lard, and olive oil are also rich in oleic acid.

  • Coconut oil
 Coconut oil is loaded with lauric acid. As with butter, most of the saturated fat in coconut oil is of the short and medium chain variety which means coconut oil is not fattening, but used for energy. Because of its high saturated fat content, coconut oil is very stable under high temperatures, ideal for cooking and baking. Far from causing cancer or heart disease, a healthy person needs to make room for saturated fats in their diet. Avoiding them could do more harm than good.

Hydrogenated or Trans Fat

In the past, hydrogenated fats were widely used in foods as a replacement for saturated fats. Hydrogenation turns polyunsaturated oils that are normally liquid at room temperature into solids, like margarine and shortenings. These are manufactured by adding hydrogen to a polyunsaturated fat, making it solid at room temperature. Then it was discovered that this was even worse than saturated fat in terms of its effects on health. In addition to raising LDL cholesterol, as saturated fat does, it also decreases the level of HDL cholesterol. Most of these man-made trans-fatty acids are toxins to the body.

You can see some of my health-related articles on superfitzone.com