Although the American Heart Association recommends a low-fat diet containing no more than 25 to 35 percent fat for heart health, they also recommend that you consume monounsaturated fats instead of saturated fats. Monounsaturated fats may lower your risk for heart disease by decreasing your levels of bad cholesterol.
Monounsaturated Fat Versus Saturated Fat
Saturated fats increase your levels of bad cholesterol, which increases your risk for heart disease. Replacing saturated fats with monounsaturated fats helps decrease your risk for both heart disease and type 2 diabetes by lowering your LDL cholesterol levels and improving blood sugar control. However, you should still consume monounsaturated fats in moderation, as they are high in calories.
Monounsaturated Fats Versus Carbohydrates
Replacing a portion of carbohydrates with an equal number of calories from monounsaturated fats may help to increase HDL, or good cholesterol, while decreasing LDL cholesterol levels, according to a study published in 2010 in the "Canadian Medical Association Journal." Another study, published in "Circulation" in 1999, found that switching from a high-carbohydrate diet to one that is high in monounsaturated fats also lowers triglyceride levels and improves blood-glucose control in diabetics.
Sources
Nuts, seeds, avocados, peanut butter, poultry, canola oil, peanut oil, olive oil, sesame oil and sunflower oil all contain monounsaturated fats. Oils that are liquid at room temperature contain mainly unsaturated fats, while fats that are solid at room temperature contain mainly saturated fats.
Considerations
Adding monounsaturated fats to your diet without making any other changes will not lower your heart disease risk, it will merely add more calories to your diet, increasing your risk for obesity and heart disease. For the protective effects of monounsaturated fats, you need to replace other foods with those containing monounsaturated fats while keeping your overall calorie consumption the same or lower.
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