Our Guide To Unsaturated Fats
Posted on April 7, 2008 - Filed Under Health and Fitness
When it comes to unsaturated fats, things are looking up. This means that even though they are just as fattening and contribute to high serum triglyceride levels just as saturated fats do, they do not raise cholesterol levels and they do actually have some health benefits.
Vegetable oils, nuts, vegetables, fish and fruits are great sources for unsaturated fats. Also, the serum triglyceride levels can also be elevated by high carbohydrate diets. As you might have heard before, those ultra low-fat diets do not actually do that much good as they should since they paradoxically cause the serum triglyceride levels to rise.
Whether one of these unsaturated fats is better than the other has engaged a general debate. Omega-3 fatty acids are a special type of polyunsaturated fat that seem to actually have beneficial effect. Omega 3 fatty acids can be generally found in fish oil, canola oil, flaxseed and flaxseed oil, nuts and soybean oil. Then, if omega 3 fatty acids can be found in fish oil one of the best source for these special polyunsaturated fats is fish. Include as many fatty fish as you can in your diet such as trout, sardine, pilchard, kipper, herring and mackerel.
Because it helps stabilizing the electrical conduction system of the heart, omega 3 fatty acids in fish oil are very important to anyone’s health. It has been shown through medical studies that the risk of dying from heart disease is actually lowered by these fats. A consideration for people who do not like to eat fish can be omega 3 fatty acid supplements also known as fish oil capsules. Fish oils have another benefit – it helps thinning the blood. Even though it may increase in some people the risk of bleeding, this effect helps protect against heart disease.
Besides all this, it has also been shown that fish oils also slightly lower blood pressure, and unlike other unsaturated fats, these omega 3 fatty acids do lower triglyceride levels.
You might have heard of HDL and LDL cholesterol before. Well, HDL cholesterol is the good kind of cholesterol since it diminished the risk of heart disease, stroke or heart attack occurring, clears the arteries and stops the formation of plaques on the artery walls.
A high level of HDL is always desired. But, if HDL cholesterol is the good one, then LDL cholesterol has to be the bad kind. A high level of LDL cholesterol can endanger anyone’s life because it raises the risks of coronary heart disease to develop which can lead to certain complications, and so on. The bottom line is that it is best to keep your HDL cholesterol levels as high as you can and your LDL cholesterol as low as you can.
The unfortunate part is that omega 3 fatty acids do not actually help in this area. They actually have a very small impact on LDL cholesterol levels and they also lower the HDL cholesterol.
Jean Helmet is a content editor who focuses on a wide array of niche health topics. Her latest website - Natural Cholesterol Supplement focuses on cholesterol as a whole, and in partcular, a natural product our editors personally use with excellent health results known as - Cholest-Natural
Be sure to check out our cholesterol product of choice, it is the natural supplement we use and recommend to friends and family, and have done for over 3 years.
Tags: Unsaturated fats
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