A couple of studies have shown that when calorie intake remained the same, diets high in MUFAs led to weight loss similar to that of low-fat diets 4 , 5. A larger study that combined the results of 24 other studies showed that high-MUFA diets are slightly more effective than high-carb diets for weight loss 7.
Therefore, high-MUFA diets can be an effective way to lose weight when replacing other calories, rather than adding extra calories to the diet.
There is a big debate in nutrition about whether excessive saturated fats increase the risk of heart disease. Too much cholesterol in the blood is a risk factor for heart disease, as it can clog arteries and lead to heart attacks or stroke. Various studies have shown that a high intake of monounsaturated fats can reduce blood cholesterol and triglycerides 8 , 9 , For example, one study of healthy people compared three months of a high-MUFA diet with a high-saturated fat diet to see the effects on blood cholesterol.
High-MUFA diets can help lower blood pressure, too. A large study of people with high blood pressure found that a high-MUFA diet lowered blood pressure and the risk of heart disease, compared to a high-carb diet Similar beneficial results in blood pressure have also been found in people with type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome 16 , However, it is important to note that the beneficial effects of high-MUFA diets are only seen when they replace saturated fat or carbs in the diet.
Furthermore, in each of these studies, the high-MUFA diets were part of calorie-controlled diets, meaning that adding extra calories to your diet through high-MUFA foods may not have the same benefits.
There is also some evidence that diets rich in MUFAs may help reduce the risk of certain cancers. Prostate cancer, for example, is one of the most common types of cancer in men, especially older men.
Many studies have examined whether men who eat a good amount of MUFAs have reduced or increased rates of prostate cancer, but the evidence remains unclear. Each of the studies examining the role of high-MUFA diets in prostate cancer has found different results. Some show a protective effect, some show no effect and others show a harmful effect 18 , 19 , Therefore, it is unclear how MUFAs affect prostate cancer. High-MUFA diets have also been studied in relation to breast cancer risk 21 , 22 , One large study of women found that those with the highest amounts of oleic acid a type of MUFA found in olive oil in their fat tissue had the lowest rates of breast cancer However, this was only seen in women in Spain — where olive oil is widely consumed — and not in women from other countries.
This suggests it may be another component of olive oil that has a protective effect. The chain of carbon atoms holds as many hydrogen atoms as possible — it's saturated with hydrogens. Is saturated fat bad for you? A diet rich in saturated fats can drive up total cholesterol, and tip the balance toward more harmful LDL cholesterol, which prompts blockages to form in arteries in the heart and elsewhere in the body.
A handful of recent reports have muddied the link between saturated fat and heart disease. One meta-analysis of 21 studies said that there was not enough evidence to conclude that saturated fat increases the risk of heart disease, but that replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat may indeed reduce risk of heart disease. Two other major studies narrowed the prescription slightly, concluding that replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fats like vegetable oils or high-fiber carbohydrates is the best bet for reducing the risk of heart disease, but replacing saturated fat with highly processed carbohydrates could do the opposite.
Good fats come mainly from vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fish. They differ from saturated fats by having fewer hydrogen atoms bonded to their carbon chains. Healthy fats are liquid at room temperature, not solid. There are two broad categories of beneficial fats: monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Monounsaturated fats. When you dip your bread in olive oil at an Italian restaurant, you're getting mostly monounsaturated fat.
Monounsaturated fats have a single carbon-to-carbon double bond. The result is that it has two fewer hydrogen atoms than a saturated fat and a bend at the double bond. This structure keeps monounsaturated fats liquid at room temperature.
Good sources of monounsaturated fats are olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, avocados, and most nuts, as well as high-oleic safflower and sunflower oils. The discovery that monounsaturated fat could be healthful came from the Seven Countries Study during the s. It revealed that people in Greece and other parts of the Mediterranean region enjoyed a low rate of heart disease despite a high-fat diet.
The main fat in their diet, though, was not the saturated animal fat common in countries with higher rates of heart disease. It was olive oil, which contains mainly monounsaturated fat.
This finding produced a surge of interest in olive oil and the "Mediterranean diet," a style of eating regarded as a healthful choice today. Although there's no recommended daily intake of monounsaturated fats, the Institute of Medicine recommends using them as much as possible along with polyunsaturated fats to replace saturated and trans fats.
Polyunsaturated fats. When you pour liquid cooking oil into a pan, there's a good chance you're using polyunsaturated fat. Corn oil, sunflower oil, and safflower oil are common examples. Polyunsaturated fats are essential fats. American Heart Association Cookbooks. Nutrition Basics.
Healthy For Good: Spanish Infographics. AHA Recommendation For good health, the majority of the fats that you eat should be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated.
What are monounsaturated fats? How do monounsaturated fats affect my health? Are monounsaturated fats better for me than saturated fats or trans fats?
Which foods contain monounsaturated fats? Most foods contain a combination of different fats. To provide you with the most relevant and helpful information and to understand which information is beneficial, we may combine your e-mail and website usage information with other information we have about you. If we combine this information with your PHI, we will treat all of that information as PHI, and will only use or disclose that information as set forth in our notice of privacy practices.
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By Mayo Clinic Staff. Thank you for Subscribing Our Housecall e-newsletter will keep you up-to-date on the latest health information. Please try again. Something went wrong on our side, please try again. Show references Duyff RL. Fat facts. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Department of Health and Human Services and U. Department of Agriculture. Accessed Feb. Dietary Reference Intakes for energy, carbohydrate, fat, fatty acids, cholesterol, protein, and amino acids.
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