Cholesterol – The difference between Good Fats and Bad Fats

For cholesterol management, some knowledge about fats is very essential. This helps to manipulate fat intake. Some fats are good and necessary for the body, while others are harmful.

The fats that we intake as part of our daily diet, play an important role in our body. Apart from making the food more delicious, they help in proper growth and development of the body. Fats are also required for the absorption of the vitamins (A, D, E, and K), but fats can increase the cholesterol level in the body and affect the heart. One must therefore eat the right kind of fats in the right proportion for a healthy heart instead of taking no fats at all. Here is a classification of fats:

Bad Fats
Saturated fats: They are found in foods such as full-fat milk, cheese, butter, meat, eggs, biscuits, cakes, potato crisps, and many more. Saturated fats are not good for your heart as they increase blood cholesterol and it leads to the risk of heart diseases. Therefore, it becomes necessary to substitute saturated fatty acids with polyunsaturated fatty acids. Unsaturated fats are mainly found in unsaturated vegetable oils such as sunflower, olive and canola and margarine spreads.

For a healthy heart, you can use these oils for frying and also in salads and margarine instead of butter. These foods are the main sources of essential fatty acids. Polyunsaturated fats comprise 75-90 percent of fatty acids, they also contain Vitamin E and Vitamin D. Unsaturated fatty acids help in lowering blood cholesterol level.

Trans fats: They are naturally found in animal foods from ruminants such as butter, milk and meats. It is advised to decrease the intake of trans fats, as they reduce 'good' HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol and raise 'bad' LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol. This property of Trans fats makes them even more harmful than saturated fats.

Good Fats
Monounsaturated fats: These fats are found especially in olive and peanut oils and can be used for cooking, frying, etc. Monounsaturated fats are a good substitute for saturated fats as they ensure a healthy heart. Our body also has the capacity to produce these types of fats.

Polyunsaturated fats: These fats are known as 'essential fats' or 'good' fats. They are found in vegetables oils like sunflower and canola, margarine spreads and some nuts. One must consume more of polyunsaturated fats and less of saturated fats as the former lower blood cholesterol.

Polyunsaturated fats are essential nutrients similar to vitamins and minerals. As our body can not produce them, we can get them only through the foods that are rich in polyunsaturated fats.

Plan a balanced and healthy diet and eat a variety of foods like lean meat, low fat dairy products, legumes, fruits and vegetables. You can also use low cholesterol products like spreads and oils that are high in polyunsaturated fats, low in bad saturated fats and virtually trans fat free.

This brief yet comprehensive understanding about fats can help you to plan your diet for a healthy heart. You must replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats to reduce cholesterol level.