Healthy and unhealthy fats
Fats don’t exactly have a spotless reputation: we associate them with cholesterol and weight gain. Nevertheless, we have to make some reservations about this – perhaps hasty – verdict.
Many think it is a good idea to use as little fat as possible. But limiting fat intake is not always a good idea, emphasizes Dr. Lecerf, a nutritionist at the Institut Pasteur in Lille. “Fats are absolutely indispensable for our health: Fats should represent 35 to 40 percent of our daily calorie intake.”
You can’t live without
Why fats are necessary? Because they form an energy reserve for our body, so that it can continue to function between meals. Fats are also building blocks of cell membranes, especially the cell membranes of noble tissues such as the brain and eyes. In addition, some fats provide for the production of chemical substances that are indispensable for the proper functioning of certain organs, a balanced blood circulation and a balanced nervous system.
Professor Bourre: “Some vitamins are fat-soluble, which means that we only find them in fats. Take vitamin E, an antioxidant that is an important ally in the fight against aging. We can hardly get that from elsewhere than from vegetable oils. I’m also thinking of vitamin A, which is found in butter and in cod liver oil and is crucial for it eyesight. Or vitamin D, essential for calcium absorption and mainly present in the fat of fish.” If you do not eat enough fats, you are guaranteed to suffer from a shortage of these three vitamins.
One fatty acid is not the other
That may all be true, but there are still good and bad fats, we hear you think. “Saturated fats, present in, for example, cheese do it cholesterol level only increase if you eat too much of it. In normal amounts they are not harmful to heart and vessels. Anyone who takes in too little of these saturated fats obliges his body to use the polyunsaturated fats – the good fats, such as omega-3 and omega-6 – to supply energy. As a result, they cannot perform important tasks, for example in the brain,” says Dr. Lecerf.
Sausage and camembert
Does it really make no sense to completely remove sausage and camembert from our menu? “That would even be absurd,” says Professor Bourre. “It is much better to cut back on the consumption of cookies, ready meals and chips, since these products contain palm oil. After all, one saturated fatty acid is not the other: palmitic acid increases the risk of cardiovascular disease the most increase when you consume excessive amounts of it, while butyric acid – including in fatty dairy products – has been proven to protect against cancer of the colon and rectum.”
The right ratio
As for omega-3, the proportion of these fatty acids should account for 1 percent of the total calorie intake. For omega-6, the recommendation is 4 percent. But there’s no point in wondering every day if you’ve reached your percentage of omega-3 and omega-6. It’s more about the idea behind the numbers.
The most important thing is that you know that omega-3 are polyunsaturated fatty acids, extremely necessary for the proper functioning of the heart and brain. In practice, this means that it is in your best interest to put fatty fish on the menu (salmon, sardines, herring). Oily fish is high in EPA and DHA fatty acids, two famous omega-3 fatty acids. This also applies to rapeseed, soy and nut oil, rabbit, purslane and lamb’s lettuce. Foods that provide alpha-linolenic acid that helps the organism make EPA and DHA.
Furthermore, it is wise to sparingly with sunflower and corn oils, both rich in omega-6 fatty acids. “Too many omega-6 fatty acids not only prevent the organism from making optimal use of the omega-3 fatty acids, they also promote inflammation and oxidation, which is not particularly beneficial for the health of our heart and blood vessels,” according to our nutritionist.
Sources):
- Plus Magazine
