The majority of us claim we are interested in staying fit and healthy. However, a new report has discovered that when asked to explain the difference between good and bad fats, an astounding 72 per cent of us got it widely wrong.
Maybe you don’t think it’s important to know whether olive oil is better for your health than better, and don’t care whether you are eating unsaturated fats or saturated. But with the new survey finding that the typical adult’s consumption of ‘bad’ fat is a third higher than the recommended daily amount, then it’s surely time to pay attention to the facts.
Nearly everyday we read an article about fat, and excess fat has been linked to many health problems from obesity to heart disease and certain types of cancer.
However, some fat is essential in everyone’s diet because it can contain fat soluble vitamins. The problem is that people in western societies eat too much, and very often the wrong type of fat.
So, what exactly is the wrong type of fat? Often called saturated fat, it is usually found in animal products, for example, butter, eggs, meat, cream, milk, yogurt, and others. Skimmed or low-fat versions of these foods are not as bad, and the levels of saturated fats are often lower in soft cheesees than in hard varieties.
Unsaturated fats, meanwhile, come in either polyunsaturated or monounsaturated from, depending on their molecular structure. They usually derive from vegetables and include olive-oil, rape seed and vegetable oil, nut oils and low-fat spreads and margarines, though they are also found in oily fish like sardines, mackerel and herring.
The reason it is to know the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats is because consuming too much of the former can lead to a high cholesterol count and a dramatically increased risk of heart disease.
While all fats are high in calories, unsaturated fats are considered much healthier, because they can help lower our cholesterol count.
Excess fat in our diet usually leads to an increase in the amount of fat deposited in the blood vessel linings.
Tragically, we are now starting to see early signs of heart disease in children as young as nine, their blood vessels are clogging up with fat.
Women, practically are ignoring the message about fat. Despite the fact that heart disease is the biggest killer of women, the fairer sex is still consuming more saturated fast than men.
And as it seems that these days, many of us are more concerned about buying organic and ethnical foods than we are in checking nutritional values.
