Swiss Pharmacy

ALL YOU NEED TO EAT: THE TROUBLE WITH FATS

FAT HAS BEEN flogged — and continues to be flogged — as Dietary Enemy No. l. The world-wide paranoia has fuelled a growth industry whose exertions sometimes border on the schizophrenic — fat-free ice-creams, eggless mayonnaise.

Trapped in this mind-set, it's easy for us to forget that fat is an essential component in a healthy diet. What's more, it's found — whether in big or small or trace amounts — in virtually every natural food on earth, so that it would be well-nigh impossible for anyone to sit down and compose a truly fat-free diet.

Among the different functions that fat performs in the body:

Fat is the most concentrated source of energy (calories). One gram of fat delivers 9 calories.

Fat is necessary for your body to be able to absorb the fat-

soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K).

Fat provides the essential fatty acids that we all need in small amounts.

Finally, as everybody knows, fat is what makes food taste good. It also brings in aroma and texture.

Fat becomes troublesome only when we over-indulge our fat tooth, even more so when we over-indulge in the so-called "bad fats" — saturated fats — which are the ones that clog our arteries and put us at risk for heart disease. Here's what you need to know about the various types of fat and how and why you must control your intake of them:

Saturated fats are those that are solid at room temperature — eg. the main fats in meats, whole milk and dairy products, and some vegetable oils such as coconut, palm and palm-kernel oils. They are "saturated" with hydrogen — that is, they have a hydrogen atom at every binding site.

Monounsaturated fats are those that have a single pair of hydrogen atoms missing — for instance, the main fats in groundnut, olive and canola oils.

Polyunsaturated fats have two or more pairs of hydrogen atoms missing—for instance, the main fats in corn, sunflower, safflower and soyabean oils, as well as in fish oils.

All fats are mixtures of all three kinds of fatty acids — it's just that one type predominates more than the others. Thus, groundnut oil may be called a "monounsaturated" oil, but it does contain both, saturated and polyunsaturated fat, too.

What you chiefly need to know about the difference between these fats is that saturated fats increase your risk of heart disease whereas unsaturated fats (in controlled amounts) do not and, in fact, have a heart-protective effect. Saturated fats raise your blood levels of cholesterol which collects on artery walls, eventually constricting blood flow, especially to the heart.

A fact that's often lost sight of: the saturated fats in our foods have a greater adverse effect on blood cholesterol than does the cholesterol in our foods!

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