Beware of Unsaturated Oils

In response to a reader comment in my earlier post Cholesterol and Saturated Fat: Good or bad?, I asked a guest expert to clarify the subject of Health and unsaturated fats. You can review the reader the comment in the bottom section of that post. Here is our reply below:

Hi Susan, thank you for your comment, you bring up an important issue.

You are correct in that trans fat is not a saturated fat.

Trans fats actually are either mono or polyunsaturated fatty acids. In the food industry, trans fats are produced via commercial hydrogenation of unsaturated oils, generally soybean or corn oil.

As most saturated fats added to food products are actually artificially hydrogenated, they also come with an abundant supply of trans fats. Historically, this is part of the reason why saturated fats received so much negative attention.

The fact of the matter is that natural saturated fats are actually essential to health. The generally accepted concept of “unsaturated fats are healthy” is an excellent example of the power of deceptive marketing and incomplete research.

Commercially produced unsaturated fats are actually a mixed bag of healthy and unhealthy factors with a high tendency toward the unhealthy side. In fact, the more processing an oil receives, the higher the likelihood that it is unhealthy.

Labels on food products, advertisements, and most public programs are generally not good sources of health and nutrition information. I recommend eating things that do not have labels or at least have very few ingredients and little or no processing. Nature is our best ally when it comes to good health.

You can read more about nutrition information in my series of articles here http://nkhuong.com/blog/jeet-kune-do-nutrition-fats/

In Health, Nhan

Victoria Vives Khuong
http://3vprototype.com