Nowadays, everything that contains the word “fats” seems to have only negative connotations, but nothing is further from the truth, as its consumption is very necessary for our health, specially good fats. For everything to work properly, your consumption should represent between 25% and 30% of our daily calories maximum. The fats and lipids of our diet are one of the main sources of energy, but depending on the quality of these, we will classify them as more or less healthy. They also provide us essential fatty acids that cannot be synthesized in the body and help us transport the fat-soluble vitamins, or what is the same, vitamins A, D, E and K.
Types of fats
We can classify fats into different categories:
- Saturated fatty acids, which are found mainly in products of animal origin such as meat and its derivatives and dairy products, such as cheese and milk.
- Trans fatty acids, which are found naturally in meat and milk from ruminants and in prefabricated products. High consumption can have negative effects on cardiovascular health and other types of pathologies.
- Monounsaturated fatty acids, which can be found in a wide range of foods, such as olives or avocados, nuts, seed oils, meats and dairy products. It is usually the most abundant fatty acid in the diet of the majority of the population. This type of fat has created a lot of controversy over time about whether its intake has health benefits or not.
- Polyunsaturated fatty acids n-3 and n-6, or known as the famous Omega 3 and 6. We can obtain Omega 6 acids from food sources such as seeds, oils and their derivatives, nuts and whole grains and Omega 3 of foods such as flax seeds, chia seeds, soybeans, nuts, olive oil, fish such as cod, herring, mackerel, wild or farmed salmon, sardines and tuna. It is found that its consumption has high benefits for brain health, among others, such as cardiovascular. It is recommended to consume fish at least 3 times a week and two of them in the form of blue fish.
Fats necessary for good health
The findings and research in the field of nutrition have experienced a breakthrough in the last decade. As we have said, the consumption of fatty acids is of vital importance to keep our health at bay. Fat is a very important component for our diet, but even more so its quality, which is mainly defined by the composition of its fatty acids. Of course, always combined with a healthy and balanced diet that allows us to acquire all the vitamins and nutrients necessary for the proper functioning of our body.
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