Benefits of Good Fats vs. Bad Fats

By now, most nutrition savvy people are aware of some of the health benefits of good fats vs. bad fats.  Busting the fat myths is of great importance for longevity and happy, healthy living for most people.  Unfortunately, with fats, picking the good from the bad can be quite tricky, particularly with all the misinformation floating around, especially via non-scientific or pseudo-scientific advocacy fad diets, like the Keto Diet (Ketogenic Diet).
Although relatively healthy fats such as Olive Oil or Avocado Oil may be included in your daily diet, it still is important to note that all fats – both good and bad – are very high in calories.  If you are on a diet, or want to lose weight, no matter what the current fad says: FAT is FATTENING.
Cooked Steak, high in cholesterol and saturated fat
FACT: Juicy marbled steak – full of BAD FAT … so sorry – calories, cholesterol and saturated fat.
As a  general rule U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends a diet have no more than 20 – 35% of calories derived from fats.  This may sound easy, but fat is so high in calories, that the recommended amount is only 4-6 tablespoons (56g – 84g) of fat, butter or oil.  If you’re going to eat fatty foods, try to make as much as possible be the good fats vs. bad fats.

The Health Benefits of Good Fats

What is Good Fat?

Good fats are the ones to include in your diet. They can help to increase your longevity and quality of life – whether by improved heart and cardiovascular health, or other benefits from reduced risk of some cancers, and reduced risks of stroke, dementia and Alzheimer’s.  The good fats fall into 3 basic categories:
  • Monounsaturated Fat
  • Polyunsaturated Fat
  • HDL Cholesterol
squirrel with nut in its mouth, health benefits of good fats
Do squirrels intuitively know the health benefits of good fats? Perhaps.
Those good fats are the fats you should substitute into your diet, replacing the bad fats – the saturated fats, trans fats and LDL Cholesterol.
Before we dig down into the nitty-gritty of the benefits of good fats versus the disadvantages of bad fats, two asides are worth discussing.
First, Lipids:
Lipids (n): chemists will tell you that lipids are the umbrella group that includes all dietary fat-like substances, such as fat, triglycerides and cholesterol.  HDL cholesterol is a lipid, but technically not really a fat, but you’ll see it fits perfectly in a discussion of good and bad fats.
Second, are good fats really all good?  The answer is only if done right:
GOOD advice on GOOD fats:  Because fats are so high in calories, obtain the benefits of good fats by swapping out the bad fats for the good fats, not increasing your total fat consumption.

Good: Monounsaturated Fat

Monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) are liquids at room temperature, and they are “missing” one hydrogen atom in their chemical structure.  So their name is derived from that missing one hydrogen – mono being one, and unsaturated meaning missing hydrogen.

Sources of Monounsaturated Fat

Bowl of mixed nuts including pistachios

The sources of monounsaturated fats include some vegetables and nuts.  So, vegetable oil tends to be highest in monounsaturated fat.  The best of these vegetable oils have much more monounsaturated fats than other types.  So for example, great sources of monounsaturated fat are:

  • Olive Oil
  • Avocados and Avocado Oil
  • Nuts and Nut oils, such as Almonds and pistachios
  • Peanuts and Peanut Oil
  • Sunflower seeds and oil

Those are the best of the vegetable oils, and you should look for them when buying cooking oils.  Not all vegetable oil is equal, however.  High heat and chemical solvents are used in manufacturing some of the less expensive brands. The high heat can hydrogenate some of the fat molecules effectively partially impairing the health benefits.  To be safe it is best to look for vegetable oils labelled as “cold pressed” or “expeller” processed.

Health Benefits of Monounsaturated Fat

Research has shown health benefits of monounsaturated fats, and other potential health benefits.
Reduced Bad Cholesterol (LDL)
The most significant health benefit of monounsaturated fat is that it can lower your levels of bad cholesterol (LDL), and also it can maintain or slightly raise the levels of good cholesterol (HDL).  This is particularly significant for people with cardiovascular diseases because the necessity of reducing bad cholesterol (LDL) is very important.  The other health benefits of MUFAs tend to flow from this basic property of reducing LDL cholesterol.
Heart Healthy: Lower Risk of Heart Disease and Stroke
Reducing the bad cholesterol reduces the buildup of cardiovascular plaque, which in turn will lower the risks of strokes and heart disease.
Reduced Breast Cancer Risk

A study in Sweden found that there may be a correlation between increasing monounsaturated fat in diet while reducing bad fats and reduced breast cancer rates.

Good: Polyunsaturated Fat

Polyunsaturated fats also are liquids at room temperature, like their healthy sisters – the monounsaturated fats.  They are “missing” two hydrogen atoms in their chemical structure.  So their name is derived from those missing two hydrogens – poly meaning several, and unsaturated meaning missing hydrogen.

In your diet or weight loss plan, avoid fats that are solid at room temperature, such as lard, coconut oil and butter.  They are high in saturated fats, and contrary unscientific advocacy of the latest diet fads, the length of their chains (MCT’s, ie. “medium chain triglycerides”) are irrelevant to cardiovascular health.

Try avoiding those solid fats, and look for vegetable oils labelled as “cold pressed” or “expeller” processed.

Good: Omega-3 and Omega-6 Fatty Acids

The two “essential” fatty acids that are important for health are Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids.  Fatty acids are the chemical building blocks of fats.  These two essential fatty acids are not made within the body, so must be consumed from dietary sources.  Both are found in polyunsaturated fats.

Omega-3’s include: eicosapenaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).  What’s important to note is that you want to get EPA and DHA in your diet, such as from fatty fish breeds.

ALA is indirectly good, since your body naturally uses it to make its own EPA and DHA.  Sources of ALA include seeds and nuts, whether roasted or unroasted and flaxseed oil.

Health Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Polyunsaturated Fat

Generally speaking polyunsaturated fat benefits are linked to lowering cholesterol in the body.  Unfortunately, it has been found to lower both good HDL cholesterol as well as bad LDL cholesterol.  So if you want to lower cholesterol, a better choice would be monounsaturated fats (discussed above).
Regarding Omega-3 fatty acids, the American Heart Association has linked Omega-3 fatty acids to good heart health.  The reason is that research has found that Omega-3 fatty acids lower triglycerides.  Why is that important?  Triglycerides are blood fats, which have been found to contribute to heart disease and diseases of the cardiovascular system.

Sources of Polyunsaturated Fat’s Omega-3 Fatty Acids

You can get good Omega-3 fatty acids – DHA and EPA – directly from some types of fish.  You also can get Omega-3 fatty acids by taking fish oil nutritional supplements.  Although DHA and EPA are found in fish oils, not all fish oils are good for you.  Remember to eat only low-mercury fish, and avoid the bigger fish like swordfish, marlin and shark, since the high mercury levels in those fish make them dangerous for other reasons.  The good fish include salmon, mackerel, herring and sardines.

Low Mercury Fish are Good Sources of EPA & DHA Omega-3 Fatty Acids:

  • Salmon
  • Herring
  • Mackerel
  • Sardines

High Mercury Fish are Bad Sources of EPA and DHA Omega-3 Fatty Acids:

  • Swordfish
  • Marlin
  • Shark

ALA can be found in some seeds and vegetables, including:

  • Flaxseed – best
  • Walnuts
  • Chia Seed
  • Canola Oil
  • Soybeans and Soybean Oil

HDL Cholesterol

Health Benefits of HDL Cholesterol

The primary benefit of HDL cholesterol is that it can reduce the risk of heart disease, by scavenging and helping to remove bad LDL cholesterol from the body.  It also can reduce the risk of strokes.

Cholesterol is a fatty substance found in all cells, so inherently it is not bad.  However the LDL Cholesterol (low density cholesterol) can clog arteries by being deposited as “plaque” on artery walls.  If you know someone who has had a stent implanted in an artery, odds are that bad LDL cholesterol is the culprit.  Good HDL cholesterol (high density cholesterol) removes unneeded cholesterol from the body by transporting it to the liver to be reprocessed.  This serves to reduce the chances the unneeded molecules stick around and clog up arteries.

Sources of HDL Cholesterol

The way to increase HDL cholesterol in your body is to eat foods containing Omega-3 fatty acids.  You also can decrease bad LDL cholesterol by eating high fiber foods, which serve to inhibit absorption of LDL cholesterol in the digestive system, and by substituting monounsaturated fats for other fats, as they have been found to reduce LDL cholesterol.

Some of the good sources of Omega-3’s to increase HDL cholesterol include:

  • Fatty low-mercury fish, such as salmon, mackerel and herring.
  • Flax and flaxseed oil
  • Chia
  • Soybeans and soybean oil.
  • Tofu

Health Risks of Bad Fats

What is Bad Fat?

The bad fats are the health busting, high calorie fats to avoid, if you care about a healthy, lower calorie diet.  The bad fats include:
  • Saturated fat (red meat, coconut oil)
  • Trans Fat (hydrogenated vegetable oil, margarine)
  • LDL cholesterol (red meat, dairy)

Chemically speaking, saturated fat is called “saturated” because unlike the unsaturated fats, its molecules have all the possible hydrogen atoms, hence the term “saturated”.  Saturated fats can lead to heart disease, atherosclerosis.

Sources of Bad Fats

Bad fats are found in  meats (such as beef, pork, and lamb), dairy, lard, and tropical oil. Trans fats are found in fried foods, butter, and processed snacks. Trans fats come from hydrogenated vegetable oils. While they may be tasty, these fats can have some serious negative effects.

Saturated fats usually are solid at room temperature, such as:

  • Butter
  • Lard
  • Coconut oil
  • Palm oil
  • Animal fats, such as contained in red meat
  • Whole Milk
  • Cheese

The BenefitsOf.com “Easy Diet”TM

Try this easy diet, once you know the good fats vs. the bad fats:

RULE 1:  swap out bad fats for good fats.

RULE 2:  reduce total fat consumption.

Bad Fats Can Slowly Kill You – Here’s How

One of the most obvious health risks of bad fat is that they are high in calories, so promote weight gain.  However, you may consider that to be the least of concerns.  The health risks of bad fats according to statistically relevant research include:

  • Reduced Longevity
  • Obesity
  • Increased risk for cancer and other diseases:
    • colon cancer
    • prostate cancer
    • heart disease and atherosclerosis
    • stroke
  • Increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease
  • Diabetes
  • Increasing your LDL cholesterol, which in turn promotes heart disease, atherosclerosis and stroke.
  • Overcoming the advantages of good fats.

Busting The Myth That Bad Fats Might Not Really Be bad

Let’s take a look at the misinformation that is circulated about bad fats and the new “fad” diets, like a keto diet, that seem to come out every year, as the old ones fade away for lack of success.  Perhaps it is a business matter for some, or just a guilty pleasure for others.  After all, by now most people realize that fatty red meats and some fatty plant oils are full of bad saturated fats and cholesterol.

The bad news is, fad diets, from cookie diets to ketogenic diets, that just focus on a single food or food type and attribute magical weight reducing properties to it have never been scientifically proven to work.  The good news is that by swapping out good fats for bad fats such as saturated facts, you can improve cardiovascular health and longevity.

With all the red meat and coconut oil myths circulating around the popular press – some people wonder whether bad fats really are bad.

Unfortunately, they’re 100% wrong – either bad science or well-intentioned people misinterpreting the science.  As a recent article in the NY Times says,

So before you succumb to wishful thinking that you can eat well-marbled steaks, pork ribs and full-fat dairy products with abandon, you’d be wise to consider the findings of what is probably the most comprehensive, commercially untainted review of the dietary fat literature yet published.

People reducing consumption of one food (bad fat) often substitute other bad foods in its place (diet sodas, sugary foods, refined carbohydrates).  So the bad science fails to account for this substitution bias, and has caused a lot of the confusion.  Then, it becomes popular to disparage the decades of research and tout opposite conclusions.  However, it’s a disservice to misinterpret or mislead like that where there are real people battling real health issues that pay the price – whether obesity, heart disease or dementia.  So, trendy saturated fats like coconut oil and palm oil still are bad to eat, no matter what their proponents may tout.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health professional regarding questions you might have about a medical condition or health, beauty or diet objectives.

6 thoughts on “Benefits of Good Fats vs. Bad Fats”

  2. Lori

    Interesting article.
    Not all fats are the same. I think it’s worth mentioning that good fats, such as coconut, almond oils & olive oils, can actually help you burn and lose weight: Grass fed beef has healthier fat than grain fed beef because it’s higher in Omega 3 fatty acids. The health benefits of canola are questionable because of it’s processed into a partially hydrogenated oil. In addition, canola is most often GMO.

    1. Mitch

      Thanks for the thoughtful comment Lori. I think there is a lot of misinformation out there and hope this article could give some structure to the field. By the way, I added a paragraph on oil manufacturing because of the issue you raised about canola. The same could be said of the manufacturing processes used for some brands of vegetable oil, and not just canola. Cold pressed would be the best bet in terms of the least intrusive commercial manufacturing process. Unfortunately, the cold pressed brands tend also to be more expensive.

  4. aiman khan

    Everyone care for the skin and you did a marvelous job by sharing such a nice information.
    All the tips are outstanding and worth trying.

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