Consume moderate (not low) quantities of good oils.
Avoid high fat meals.
Limit bad fats and oils to a small percentage
of fat intake. This can mostly be done by
(nearly) eliminating
(a) partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, which occur in many prepared products,
(b) fats that are solid at room temperature.
Contrary to once popular belief, babies should
also avoid diets high in saturated fats (SN 3/4/95 p.132).
- SATURATED FATS Solid at room
temperature. Associated with some cancers, high cholesterol, and
other problems. Trans fats are worst (SN 11/10/01 p.301). On
the other hand, some saturated fats are needed. Natural (not
hydrogenated) are best and they should be medium (not long) chain fats.
SOURCES of medium chain:
coconut oil (good), palm kernel
oil, (dairy products ?)
SOURCES of long chain: mammal
fats, (dairy products ?)
- TRANS FATS Associated
with some cancers (SN 1/17/98 p.17) and increased risk of heart disease
and diabetes (SN 11/10/01 p.300). An exception
are some conjugated linoleic acids, which boost
immunity and reduce cancer risk; however, apparently not enough is present
in food and supplements vary greatly in quality. (SN 3/3/01 p.136).
SOURCES:
partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (e.g., in margarines and many baked
goods)
- OMEGA-6 FATTY ACIDS Needed,
but too much can block absorption or usage of omega-3. It is important to keep the
omega-3/omega-6 ratio fairly high.
- POLYUNSATURATED
FATS Cholesterol effect nearly neutral: they
lower LDL (the bad) and HDL (the good).
They inhibit absorption of vitamin K from salads (Alt. 1/01).
Claimed to be associated with cancer risk, but this may be due
simply to fact that more poly usually means less mono. They include omega-3 and omega-6 which are good, but often the
omega-3/omega-6 ratio is too low.
SOURCES: vegetable oils, nuts.
Click for help on dealing with high
fat meals and information on cardiovascular-cholesterol
connections.