Unsaturated Fat Augments Heart Health

The unsaturated fats are now becoming more popular for their quality of improving the health of your heart. Unsaturated fats have two forms, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated.

These fats are good for maintaining good heart health, if consumed appropriately, particularly the polyunsaturated fat that are made up of Omega 3 fatty acids. The healthy oils you use to make food regularly could be hazardous to health if exceeded its ideal limit.

How to get all the benefits from unsaturated fats?

· Monounsaturated Fats

Monounsaturated fats have molecular structure and so they maintain their liquid form even at room temperature. They transform to a solid state, when they are cooled down below the room temperature.

They remain comparatively stable just like saturated fats and do not get easily rancid.

Oleic acid is the popular monounsaturated fats present in olive oil. It is also found in cashew, almonds, peanuts, avocados and pecans.

Monounsaturated fats increase as well decrease the bad cholesterol level.  It offers health benefits like decreasing the risk of stroke and heart disease by cutting down on excess weight, especially around your belly.

It also reduces the agony and stiffness caused due to rheumatoid arthritis and chances of having breast cancer in women. Monounsaturated fats also supply nutrients like vitamin E to the body.

· Polyunsaturated Fats

The foods that we consume everyday have polyunsaturated fats including omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids.

Our body does not prepare these fats and they are termed as EFA or ‘Essential Fatty Acids’, which can be acquired from various foods we consume.

These fats remain liquid even if they are refrigerated. Polyunsaturated fats are unstable and get easily rancid, omega 3 in particular and thus, heating them should be avoided.

You could use these fats in salad dressing where heating is not required. Always opt for bottled oil that specifies unrefined and it is in a dark color, whereas refined oils are heated during hydrogenation and it can be spoiled.

It is recommended to consume less of Omega 6 oils, which are found in plenty in western diets. The proportion of the intake of omega 3 to omega 6 consisting oils must be kept minimum 1 to 4. Many people consume this oil closer to 1 to 20, which is harmful for their body.

So, it is beneficial if you eat less of polyunsaturated oils with omega 6 when compared to the ones loaded with omega 3. Sunflower, soy, safflower, corn and canola are vegetable oils are rich in omega 6 and are considered best if you avoid them.

Choose omega 3 containing oils like olive oil, sesame oil, coconut oil and natural butter for your daily cooking purposes. Unrefined polyunsaturated oils are healthy, but when they are hydrogenated they turn to risky trans-fats. Trans-fat increases the danger of heart disease in human body.

A way to protect your heart health is to increase your ingestion of food loaded with omega 3, which is healthy unsaturated fat. Omega 3 lessens fat deposition in your arteries.

Low-triglycerides boost good cholesterol. It decreases the symptoms of joint pain, skin issues and depression. Therefore, it is necessary to incorporate some unsaturated fats regularly in the form of healthy cooking oils, which is the best way to have a healthy heart.