Author: Zac Ch’ng, Nutritionist
Many people thought that fat is bad and try to avoid them in diet. Some even feel guilty after having a high fat food, because fats often linked to adverse health effects such as weight gain, overweight, high cholesterol, etc. This is true but somehow still very much depends on type and amount of fat. There are many types of fat, and each plays a different role in our body. In fact, some fats are essentials, which means we can’t live without them!
The most undeniable bad fat with no known benefits is trans-fat. Trans-fat is formed by bombarding hydrogen gas into unsaturated vegetable oil, changing its original chemical structure. Trans fat has been proven to damage human health by increasing LDL cholesterol and lowering HDL cholesterol, thus causes the risk for heart disease and stroke.
Saturated fat is fat of which every carbon bond is paired with hydrogen, with no double bond found in its chemical structure. Normally it appears as solid at room temperature, such as butter and cream. The health effects of saturated fat remain controversial until today, as the evidence of its damage is mixed. However, none of the experts would disagree that saturated fat should be taken in moderation.
Unsaturated fats are monounsaturated fat(MUFA) and polyunsaturated fat(PUFA). MUFA and PUFA have been proven by many studies to increase HDL cholesterol and lower LDL cholesterol and triglyceride. Thus, lowering the risk of getting cardiovascular disease, and they are proven to be one of the best remedies to protect cardiovascular health.
Balance in fat intake is a great nutritional art. In a nutshell, we should avoid intake of trans fat, limit intake of saturated fat and take more unsaturated fat to include both PUFA and MUFA.
The question is how?
Practically, we should replace foods high in saturated fats with unsaturated fat. Good sources of unsaturated food sources include fatty fish, legumes, and beans. And not to forget nut which is high in MUFA and PUFA. One of the best choices of nuts is Sacha inchi which consists of up to 92% of MUFA and PUFA.
Sacha Inchi is a vegetarian Omega 3, 6 and 9 originated from Peru, South America. It has been taken as daily diet choice by the local people since centuries ago, and is found that the cardiovascular diseases are much lower among the native people. Sacha Inchi was brought into Luang Prabang, Laos few years ago not just to create economy opportunity to the inland farmer, but most importantly the pristine highland has served as the identical habitat to this precious functional plant.
We can now enjoy the benefits of vegetarian Omega 3, 6 and 9 via nutritional supplementation.