Consumer
Guide To Fats
Learning from Other Cultures
People living on the Greek island of Crete have very low
rates of heart disease even though their diet is high in fat.
Most of their dietary fat comes from olive oil, a monounsaturated
fat that tends to lower levels of "bad" LDL-cholesterol
and maintain levels of "good" HDL-cholesterol.
The Inuit, or Eskimo, people of Alaska and Greenland also
are relatively free of heart disease despite a high-fat, high-cholesterol
diet. The staple food in their diet is fish rich in omega-3
polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Some research has shown that omega-3 fatty acids, found
in fish such as salmon and mackerel as well as in soybean
and canola oil, lower both LDL-cholesterol and triglyceride
levels in the blood. Some nutrition experts recommend eating
fish once or twice a week to reduce heart disease risk.
However, dietary supplements containing concentrated fish
oil are not recommended because there is insufficient evidence
that they are beneficial and little is known about their long-term
effects.
Omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids have also been found
in some studies to reduce both LDL- and HDL-cholesterol levels
in the blood. Linoleic acid, an essential nutrient (one that
the body cannot make for itself) and a component of corn,
soybean and safflower oil, is an omega-6 fatty acid.
At one time, many nutrition experts recommended increasing
consumption of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats because
of
their cholesterol-lowering effects. Now, however, the advice
is simply to reduce dietary intake of all types of fat. (Infants
and young children, however, should not restrict dietary fat.)
The available information on fats may be voluminous and
is sometimes confusing. But sorting through the information
becomes
easier once you know the terms and some of the history.
The "bottom line" is actually quite simple, according
to John E. Vanderveen, Ph.D., director of the Office of Plant
and Dairy Foods and Beverages in FDA's Center for Food Safety
and Applied Nutrition. What we should be doing is removing
as much of the saturated fat from our diet as we can. We need
to select foods that are lower in total fat and especially
in saturated fat."
In a nutshell, that means eating fewer foods of animal origin,
such as
meat and whole-milk dairy products, and more plant foods such
as
vegetables and grains.
Government Advice
Dietary guidelines endorsed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advise
consumers to:
Reduce total dietary fat intake to 30 percent or less of
total calories.
Reduce saturated fat intake to less than 10 percent of calories.
Reduce cholesterol intake to less than 300 milligrams daily.
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