Dietary fat: what are the "good"?

Fats are essential nutrients in our daily diet because they provide essential fatty acids can not be synthesized in our body, but do we distinguish different types and their functions? From "The Scalpel" and ABC Nutrition in the letter "G" fat, Anabel Aragon puts forward a series of recommendations on its use in a balanced diet.

Fats are one of the nutrients that provide energy to our body and contain 9 kilocalories per gram; unlike carbohydrates and proteins, where the power input falls to less than half (4 kcal / g).

As Anabel Aragon, head of Nutrition and Health Nestle he said fats are responsible for transporting fat - soluble vitamins (those fat soluble, which are vitamin A, D, E, and K) and are also structural components membranes, among other functions.

Chemically, fats are composed of three fatty acids attached to a molecule of alcohol, glycerol called structure. Their basic unit is thus the fatty acid consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.

"Fats should represent about 30% of the energy input of each day," advises nutritionist.

Saturated and unsaturated

Fats are found in foods of animal and vegetable origin. According to Aragon, based on fatty acids containing, they can be classified into saturated and unsaturated.

Among the unsaturated fats, we can also distinguish monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, and the latter also include fats omega-3 and omega-6."Almost all foods contain a mixture of these two types, but in different proportions," he explains.

Although the daily fat and oil are two concepts that are often used interchangeably, they are not synonymous, and their origin is different on many occasions.

Aragon explains that "fats saturated fatty acids predominate and are usually solid at room temperature, while oils have a higher comfortable of unsaturated fatty acids and, therefore, are generally liquid at room temperature."

Good and bad

According to the expert says, saturated fats are found mostly in animal foods such as milk, butter, and meat, although there are some plant foods also contain fat as coconut and palm.

"A healthy diet should include the least possible amount of saturated fat and less than 10% of total calories a day. The consumption of these fats favor the increase of LDL cholesterol, which is what we call 'evil' "he says.

Advised to remove the visible fat from meat and skin from poultry and dairy Choose semi-skimmed.

Among the unsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats found in foods such as sunflower oil, soybean, and peanut; in nuts such as almonds and walnuts and fish.

"Polyunsaturated fats can have benefits on the heart, but unlike monounsaturated, which can not exceed 6% of the total energy of the day," he remarks.

It also recommends taking more fish than meat, and vegetable oils instead of animal fats.

Among the polyunsaturated fats, Omega 3 is abundant in oily fish and omega 6 in sunflower oil and nuts, said Aragon, who insists on the need to incorporate through diet because the body can not synthesize them.

Monounsaturated fats, according to the expert, are those that take the best picture, because, in addition to lowering cholesterol is called "bad" increase "good" cholesterol. We can find them in olive oil, olives, nuts, and avocados.

"Monounsaturated fats should always be the majority in any diet and may be between 15 and 20 percent of the total energy of the day, so always potentiate enjoyed the olive oil, both for seasoning raw and cooking" stresses Aragon.

Cholesterol

Another lipid fats different nature is cholesterol, which is essential for the body but too much can be very harmful.

Cholesterol is the component of cell membranes and is a precursor of important biological molecules, such as bile salts, some hormones, and vitamin D. We found exclusively in animal foods, especially organ meats, sausages, meats, seafood and eggs, Aragon said.

Other lipoproteins, HDL, pick up excess cholesterol in the arteries and transport it to the liver to remove it through the bile so that cholesterol binding to these lipoproteins exerting a protective effect and cleaning is colloquially known as "right" argues the expert.

"Everything impact on increasing" good "cholesterol and lower" bad "will be beneficial to our cardiovascular system. The exercise, diet low in saturated fat, the addition of fiber and plant products are real allies, while the spirit, saturated fats in excess, sedentary lifestyle and obesity will impact decreased "good" cholesterol and are therefore harmful, "says Aragon.

On the fritters, notes that can be part of a healthy diet as long as their consumption is sporadic and insists combined with steam and used cooking oil, preferably olive.