Saturated fats raise levels of both good and bad cholesterol, so their impact on health is less clear.
As for saturated fats-found in meat, butter, milk, cheese, and baked goods-the verdict is more complicated. These raise bad cholesterol, which causes plaque to form in the arteries, and lower the potentially good kind. The ones to watch out for are trans fats (typically labeled as hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils) as well as most seed oils like corn, soybean, cottonseed, and grape-seed oils, which have high levels of the omega-6 linoleic acid. The low-fat-everything diet craze of the ’80s was fueled by the wrongheaded belief that because some fats are bad for you, all fat must be bad. These healthy fats-found in foods such as avocados, seeds, nuts, and fatty fish like salmon and tuna-may help lower total cholesterol and reduce inflammation, both risk factors for heart disease. The truth: Many fats (such as omega-3 fats, some polyunsaturated fats, and virtually all monounsaturated fats) are very useful in preventing heart disease and improving memory, says Karol Watson, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Here are some of the most common misconceptions about the macronutrient called fat, and the truth that can really ease your mind (and improve your meals!). But dietary fat is a very different thing than the fat cells we carry in our bodies-and we need to eat it for good health. The word fat has such negative connotations in our culture that many of us shy away from foods that contain it.
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