What Types Of Fat Should I Eat

What types of fats should I eat? Sue Brennan: Hello! My name is Sue and I want to talk to you about dietary fats. There’s so many names out there that I even get confused sometimes—there’s saturated fat, unsaturated fat, poly-unsaturated, mono-unsaturated, then they’ll start using the different coconut oil or soybeans or canola and it’s very confusing for a consumer. And now the trans fats cannot hide like they used to. Consumers have pushed for legislation in proper labeling so we know where and what types of fats are in our food sources, but we still have to watch to cookies and chips and our processed foods for some of the saturated type fats that might not be so good for our bodies. We have a lot of what they call omega-6s, which are these types of fats in our diet. But we also need another group called omega-3s. These 2 groups balance each other. They have different functions, different roles and what they break down into and how our body utilizes them. We do need fats for proper cell membrane function, proper brain function, hormone function. So, fats are essential. The ones coming from the omega-6 side are everywhere as I mentioned. You get corn oil, a lot of that in our diet. The omega-3s are going to be coming from things we probably aren’t eating as much as we should. The oilier fish, like salmon, and particularly wild versus farm—there’s all that controversy about where the fish is coming from and worry sometimes about mercury or some other of the contaminants that are in the sea food—or other sources like walnuts and soy, flax, we can get some omega-3s—or we may need to supplement. The current ratio in our diets, we’re unbalanced—we’re getting, like, to every one of the threes, we’re getting, like, 20 of the sixes. It should be maybe more of a 1 to 2 balance. What can happen in the pathways as these compounds are ingested and then broken down, you have a little different pathway for the omega-6s than you do for the omega-3s. The omega-6s, just for an example, one of them can break down into a component called arachidonic acid; and some of you may have heard of that as what then gets turned into prostaglandins, which are pro-inflammatory substances in our bodies can cause joint inflammation, some other problems chronically. What we need to do is have a balance of the by-products of the omega-6 side with the byproducts from the omega-3 side—things like the EPA or the DHA because they are anti- inflammatory.