See our editorial policies and staff. Eat Smart. American Heart Association Cookbooks. Nutrition Basics. Healthy For Good: Spanish Infographics. What are saturated fats? Saturated fats are typically solid at room temperature.
How do saturated fats affect my health? What foods contain saturated fat? Apply this general guidance regardless of where your food is prepared or consumed: Balance calorie intake with calorie needs to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Choose whole grains, lean and plant-based protein and a variety of fruits and vegetables. Limit salt, sugar, animal fat, processed foods and alcohol.
What are alternatives to replace saturated fats in the foods I eat? Should I eat them or not? Saturated fats raise your LDL bad cholesterol. High LDL cholesterol increases your risk for heart disease and stroke. Weight gain. Many high-fat foods such as pizza, baked goods, and fried foods have a lot of saturated fat. Eating too much fat can add extra calories to your diet and cause you to gain weight.
All fats contain 9 calories per gram of fat. This is more than twice the amount found in carbohydrates and protein. Cutting out high-fat foods can help keep your weight in check and keep your heart healthy. Staying at a healthy weight can reduce your risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems.
Most foods have a combination of different fats. You are better off choosing foods higher in healthier fats, such as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. These fats tend to be liquid at room temperature. How much should you get every day? Here are recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans:. All packaged foods have a nutrition label that includes fat content. Reading food labels can help you keep track of how much saturated fat you eat. Check the total fat in 1 serving.
Also, check the amount of saturated fat in a serving. Then add up how many servings you eat. Many fast food restaurants also provide nutrition information on their menus. You also may be able to find it on the restaurant's website. The following foods may be high in saturated fats. Many of them are also low in nutrients and have extra calories from sugar:.
The overarching message is that cutting back on saturated fat can be good for health if people replace saturated fat with good fats , especially, polyunsaturated fats. Eating good fats in place of saturated fat can also help prevent insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes.
Trans fatty acids, more commonly called trans fats, are made by heating liquid vegetable oils in the presence of hydrogen gas and a catalyst, a process called hydrogenation. Partially hydrogenated oil is not the only source of trans fats in our diets. Trans fats are also naturally found in beef fat and dairy fat in small amounts.
Trans fats are the worst type of fat for the heart, blood vessels, and rest of the body because they:. Mozaffarian, D. Micha, and S. Wallace, Effects on coronary heart disease of increasing polyunsaturated fat in place of saturated fat: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
PLoS Med , Mensink, R. Am J Clin Nutr , Appel, L. JAMA , Department of Agriculture, U. Government Printing Office. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, , Lichtenstein, A. Circulation , Institute, N. Population, — Siri-Tarino, P. Micha, R.
0コメント