When it comes to calories and managing your weight, a fat gram is a fat gram. Fat is high in calories, having more than twice the calories of protein or carbohydrates. This is why fat is often limited on a weight loss program. But when it comes to what fat does to the inside of your body, the type of fat is very important. All fat is not created equal. It turns out that some fats lead to high cholesterol and increase risk of disease, while other fats protect the heart, help the brain and keep our cells healthy.
Good and Bad Fats
Fats can be broken out into several categories: saturated fats and trans-fats, which are considered the unhealthy fats, and unsaturated fats, which are considered healthier fats. Unsaturated fats can be further broken down into polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. The USDA 2010 Dietary Guidelines place a strong emphasis on the type of fat consumed.
Benefits of Monounsaturated Fats
Research suggests that unsaturated fats have many important roles in the body. Monounsaturated fats have been found to reduce both total and bad cholesterol levels. If you have type 2 diabetes, increasing monounsaturated fats rather than carbohydrates may improve your glucose control.
Benefits of Polyunsaturated Fats
Polyunsaturated fats include the two essential fatty acids that the human body cannot manufacture and must be attained from the foods we eat. Polyunsaturated fats decrease total cholesterol, bad cholesterol and triglycerides. Docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, and eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA, which are omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish, have been found to decrease risk of cardiovascular disease. DHA also appears to be beneficial for infant brain development. According to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, polyunsaturated fats significantly decrease the risk of both cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
Down Side of Saturated and Trans-Fat
Saturated fat is known to increase both total cholesterol and bad cholesterol levels, as well as increase risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Trans-fat has the same adverse health effects, but also decreases good cholesterol, further increasing risk of heart disease. After reviewing 13 published studies, the Advisory Committee on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 concluded that as little as a five-percent decrease in saturated and trans-fat, replaced by an unsaturated fat decreases risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance.
How Many Grams Per Day?
The Dietary Reference Intake, DRI, for fat is 20 to 35 percent of total calories. For example, if you eat 2,000 calories a day, you need no more than 45 to 75 g of fat. Not surprisingly, most of the fat you eat each day should be unsaturated fats. The American Heart Association recommends less than 7 percent of total calories come from saturated fat and less than 1 percent of total calories from trans-fat. This means 92 percent or more of your daily fat should come from unsaturated fats. In the 2,000-calorie example, that means limiting saturated fat to no more than 14 g per day, and limiting trans-fat to less than 2 g per day.
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