Oils You Can Count on!
When many of us try to improve our diet, fats and oils are among the first things we cut back on
. This can be a bad idea, though, because while there are some fats we should get less of, there are others that are so beneficial that we should increase our intake of them.
Fats aren't just for energy
Our bodies put fats (including oils) to good use as potent sources of energy - no other kind of nutrient packs as much energy into each gram as fats do. But that is just the beginning of the role fats play in our health and well being. They are also important sources of nutrients. They carry fat-soluble vitamins including vitamin E, vitamin A, and vitamin D, and our bodies can't make the most of these vitamins unless they have adequate levels of fat to work with. Just as importantly, fats contain fatty acids, which play many roles in important bodily processes. But different fats contain different levels of different fatty acids, and those different fatty acids work differently in the body. What's more, fatty acids often interact with one another, leading to even more complex effects.
Fats, oils, fatty acids, and lipids
Before we even look at the health effects of different fats and oils, we should get some basic terminology out of the way! What we are talking about are dietary fats, or fats that we can eat for their nutritional value. In common usage we normally use the term "oil" for substances that are liquid at room temperature, and "fat" for those that are solid. But technically, dietary oils are just forms of dietary fats. Olive oil, for example, is a "plant fat" even though it is in liquid form, while lard is an "animal fat". Sometimes, you'll also hear the term lipid used to cover both fats and oils, but it is important to remember that this word extends to many other substances as well, such as natural waxes, fatty acids, sterols (including the cholesterols we hear so much about), and even some vitamins. Omega-3, omega-6, and omega-9 fatty acids If you pay attention to nutrition, you've probably come across references to substances like "omega-3 fish oil" or "omega-6 fatty acids". The first thing to remember is that just because something is called a "fatty acid", that doesn't mean it will make you fat! Fatty acids are nutrients found in fat, and they play important roles in our health. In fact, some are so important that they are called essential fatty acids - these include the omega-3 fatty acids and the omega-6 fatty acids. Technically, there isn't really any such thing as an "omega-3 fish oil"; this kind of wording is normally used to describe a fish oil product that is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. So what do descriptions like "omega-3" and "omega-6" actually mean? They refer to the chemical structure of the fatty acids. If you cast your mind back to high school chemistry classes, you might recall that many common substances are made of simple molecules - table salt, for example, has molecules that form when a single sodium atom bonds with a chlorine atom. Ammonia, a common industrial chemical, has molecules that combine a single nitrogen atom with three hydrogen atoms. Fatty acids, like many nutrients found in food, contain much larger individual molecules than these simple ones.
Eating like a caveman (or cavewoman)
If all this has you feeling a little confused, don't worry! It is a complex area and even professionals in nutritional science continue to debate about exactly what mix of fatty acids promotes optimal health. Having said that, though, there are a few ideas that are well accepted and supported by research.
The first is that we should try to choose unsaturated fats in preference to saturated ones, and should avoid trans fats if we can.
The second well established point is that the mix of fatty acids we obtain in a modern diet is quite different to the one that drove our evolutionary process. Our more primitive ancestors obtained their food by hunting, fishing, and gathering wild foods - and they didn't have any food processing factories. Those "primitive" foods were much richer in omega-3 fatty acids than a modern diet. This is one reason why it is so often recommended that we eat more foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, like fish oil, krill oil, and flaxseed oil. Perhaps because our bodies are adapted to higher intakes of them, omega-3 fatty acids can help with many different health concerns - they can help maintain healthy cholesterol levels, reduce inflammation in conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, and are extremely important for normal vision and brain development during pregnancy and infancy.
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Fish Oil supplements, for more information.
Oils You Can Count on!
By: Cenovis Sa
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