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There are four types of fats found in our food:
Monounsaturated fats (good fats) – sources include avocado, nuts such as peanuts, and almonds, oils such as olive and canola.
Polyunsaturated fats (good fats) – sources include fish, nuts such as walnuts and seeds and vegetable oils such as safflower, sunflower and corn.
Saturated fats ( bad fats) – sources include meat, full-fat milk, cheese, butter and cream, most commercially baked products such as biscuits and pastries and most deep-fried fast foods. Some plant based oils such as coconut and palm oils contain saturated fats which may cause negative health impacts even though they do not contain cholesterol.
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Trans fats (bad fats) – Unhealthy substances made through the chemical process of hydrogenation of oils. Hydrogenation solidifies liquid oils and increases their shelf life and the flavour stability of oils and foods that contain them. A disadvantage is that hydrogenation makes polyunsaturated fats more saturated.
While very small amounts are present in some dairy and meat products, most trans fats are considered an additive or unnatural ingredient. Trans fat is found in vegetable shortenings and in some margarines, crackers, cookies, snack foods, french fries and other foods.
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Stick margarine has a high level of trans fats, which badly affect blood cholesterol levels in a similar way to saturated fats. The more solid the margarine, the more trans fat it contains.
When buying food, check the nutrition facts panel and ingredients and choose the food with the lower amounts of total fat, saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol. Health experts recommend that you keep your intake of these nutrients as low as possible while consuming a nutritionally balanced and adequate diet. You can also use food labels to find food items higher in vitamins and fibre.
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