Good and Bad Fats & Dosage Guidelines

In this fat-fobic world people are confused about the issue of fats in the diet. We have been taught for decades that fats are "bad." Food manufacturers advertise "fat-free" foods. Health care providers often forget to remind us that certain essential fatty acids are required for optimum health and many of us are starved for healthy fats.

There are fats called essential fatty acids (EFAs) and they are just as important as vitamins and minerals in meeting our basic nutritional needs. Fats come in three basic forms:

• saturated fats found in meats and diary products,
• monounsaturated fats such as olive oil, canola oil and chicken fat; and
• polyunsaturated fats found primarily in other vegetable oils, nut oils and fish oils.

There are two types of essential fatty acids, found in polyunsaturated fats, namely omega-6 (plant based fatty acids) and omega-3 (principally present in fish oils). They are absolutely required for human health as we cannot synthesize them in our bodies.

Unfortunately many of the sources of polyunsaturated fats in our diet have been partially or fully hydrogenated (saturated) to make cholesterol-free substitutes such as margarine, or used for deep-frying, which oxidizes and alters the fatty acids beyond the ability of our bodies to recognize and use them. The processing of commercial oil products has done much to eliminate a great deal of the natural health benefits of vegetable oils.

The relation between the daily intake of the two families, omega-6 and omega-3 in the Western diet is unbalanced. This ratio in our diet 100 years ago is between 3:1 and 5:1 but currently the ratio in our modern diet is between 12:1 and 25:1. This dramatic shift toward omega-6 consumption has occurred because of overuse of processed oils and is thought to be one of the leading factors in chronic inflammatory illness and cardiovascular disease.

"It seems to be the food industry´s fault that we today eat too much of the omega-6 series in relation to omega-3."

The American Heart Association has now issued recommendations stating that patients with heart disease consume at least one gram of omega-3 fatty acids per day. This amount is available in a 3 oz. serving of fatty fish such as salmon, herring, trout or sardines. Taking three capsules of fish oil containing one gram of oil would also meet these recommendations.

The new American Heart Association guidelines also recommended that people without heart disease eat at least two servings of fish a week and also include oils and foods in their diet that are rich in omega-3 such as flaxseed and canola oils and add nuts such as walnuts. Unfortunately the fish is nowadays contaminated with environmental toxins, mercury and dioxines, and eating fish twice a week presents a health hazard to children under 16 years of age and to expectant mothers.

Some believe that the only safe way to ensure a safe, regular and adequate intake of omega-3 fatty to be supplementation.