Fatty food can be bad for you

NOT ALL FATS AND OILS ARE THE SAME

Fats and oils are made up of basic units called fatty acids. Each type of fat or oil is a mixture of different fatty acids.

SATURATED FATTY ACIDS :

They are found mostly in animal sources such as :

• meat fat
• chicken skin
• evaporated milk
• buter
• ghee
• coconut milk
• and certain vegetables oil such as palm oil

Saturated fats usually solid at room temperature. A diet high in saturated fat causes cholesterol to build up in arteries and increases the risk of gettng heart disease.

UNSATURATED FATY ACIDS :

There are two types:

1. Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFA) is found mainly in vegetable oils, such as canola, olive and peanut oils. These are liquid at room temperature.
2. Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA) are divided into two major classes :

• Omega-3 polyunsaturated fats source include fish, which is the richest source. Benefits include prevention of the hardening and narrowing of arteries, thus preventing heart disease.
• Omega-6 polyunsaturated fats found mainly in vegetable oils such as safflower, sunflower and corn oils.

WHAT ABOUT TRANS-FAT?

Trans-fat can raise total LDL Cholesterol and lower HDL cholesterol. Example of foods which contains trans-fat include cookies,crackers, curry puff, murtabak and cakoi.

Both MUFA and PUFA may help lower your blood cholesterol level.
LDL is the bad type while HDL is the good type of cholesterol.
However you should reduce intake of oily foods.

Source : Ministry of Health Public Awareness Programme Brunei Darussalam