Fats: The Basics

• The 3 types of fats: Saturated, unsaturated and trans fats 

• What’s wrong with trans fats? 

• LDL vs HDL Cholesterol 

• How much should we be eating?  

Let’s take it back to the beginning. There are 3 types of fats: saturated, unsaturated and trans fats.  

Saturated fats are found in animal meat, butter (not margarine), cheese, coconut oil, etc. You can tell because they are solid at room temperature (well, except for coconut oil in our extremely hot Brisbane summers!). They are essential to our health for hormone production and cholesterol synthesis.

Two types of unsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), are anti-inflammatory and have demonstrated benefits in cognition and brain health, cardiovascular health, hormone synthesis, immune function plus more. Olives and olive oil is the main source of monounsaturated fats in the Western diet. Polyunsaturated fats are further divided into short chain and long chain PUFA’s. LC-PUFAs, called EPA and DHA, are found in great numbers in fatty fish like sardines, mackerel, anchovies, salmon and herring (S.M.A.S.H.), eggs and good quality fish oil supplements.  

Most Trans fats are synthetically produced to increase the shelf life of products. There is the exception of some types of trans fats found in animal fats, which do not have the same detrimental effects as man-made trans fats. The harmful types are found in spreads like margarine and ultra-processed foods like biscuits and cakes. You can tell because margarine made out of olive oil (or any other oil) is solid, where as in the oil’s pure form, it’s liquid.  

While these have been touted as ‘healthy alternatives’ for decades now, trans fats are seriously damaging to our health. They cause inflammation and blockage in the arteries, raising blood pressure and leading to increased risk of heart disease and cardiovascular issues. They muck up our ratio of good and bad cholesterol, leading to a build-up of cholesterol deposits in our arteries, reducing the size of the artery and subsequently increasing blood pressure. Over time, this causes further damage to the arteries which the body tries to fix by sending inflammatory immune cells, contributing to more build-up and blockage.  

Plus, when we eat trans fats the body doesn’t know how to metabolise them. When this happens with any compound, the liver reverts to storing it as fat, therefore synthetic trans fats actually increases our fat stores.  

Comparatively, consuming fats in their natural state provides us with other essential nutrients (like Vitamins A and E), a source of long lasting energy and improved digestive processes. Intakes of fats should make up 25-30% of total daily energy intakes, therefore with an energy intake of 2000 calories per day, about 55-65g of fat should be consumed. In saying this, the ratio is extremely important as well. Unsaturated fats should make up the majority of your intake, with saturated fats making up only about 10% of the total fat intake, if at all.  

The easiest way to ensure this is to boost your intake of unsaturated fats throughout the day by  

• incorporating fish and seafood (listed above) into 3-4 meals per week,  

• having a handful of nuts and seeds as a snack,  

• substituting butter with avocado sometimes,  

• using olive oil for cooking and as a salad dressing with lemon juice + salt and pepper.