University of Virginia Health System

Some Fats Actually May Help the Heart

Fewer than half of Americans realize there are two types of dietary fat that actually help their hearts, a new survey shows.

As a result of its recent survey, the AHA's new Face the Fats campaign has harnessed the power of the Internet to encourage people to view these lesser-known fats with new respect.

"We're trying to take education to the next level and say when you have the opportunity to choose, choose the better fat, not the bad fat," says Dr. Clyde W. Yancy, the incoming president of the AHA.

The campaign's Web pages include an interactive quiz on fats, menus, recipes and a Fats 101 course. A Fats Translator calculates a body mass index from the input of height, weight, age and activity level.

The index is a scale ranging from underweight to obese.

The AHA decided to go digital in this phase of its campaign because "the Web really is becoming the world's premier information source, so we have to be there," adds Yancy.

Teller Stalfort, MPH, R.D., a registered dietitian at the University of Virginia Health System, believes the AHA campaign is a step in the right direction.

"Historically, there has been much emphasis placed by health professionals and the media alike on reducing harmful saturated and trans fats, so often patients only hear the negative messages of 'don't eat that,' instead of 'replace with this,'" she says. "Clearly we must do a better job of pointing consumers in the right direction with these positive messages."

HDL Continues to "Sweep" the Bad Away

Sources of polyunsaturated fats, Stalfort says, include oils such as soybean, corn, sunflower and safflower oils, cold-water fatty fish (such as salmon, tuna and trout), walnuts and sunflower seeds. Monounsaturated fats can be found in foods such as nuts, seeds, olive oil, canola oil, olives, avocado and peanut butter.

"If monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats replace saturated and trans fats in your diet, you may lower your 'bad' LDL cholesterol and raise your 'good' HDL cholesterol," Stalfort says. "Monounsaturated fats can have beneficial effects on your blood pressure."

"HDL [cholesterol] kind of acts like a broom and sweeps up the artery-damaging molecules and takes them away," adds Lona Sandon of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Trans fats and saturated fats are more able to stick to blood vessel walls and harden arteries, Yancy says.

This process can lead to the rupture of an artery or obstructed blood vessels that can cause heart attacks, strokes or blood vessel disease.

Moderation on all Fats Advised

Sandon supports the idea of greater education on the different forms of fat.

"I think it's still very confusing for people," she says. "They don't know if they should be eating low fat, what kind of fat."

She also advises moderation in consumption of any kind of fat. All fats have nine calories per gram, she explained, so even too much of the better fats can lead to weight gain. "They're healthy, but you can't go wild with them," she says.

UVA's Stalfort notes that the AHA recommends you get no more than 30 percent of our daily calories from any source of fat. For people eating 2,000 calories a day, that would be a maximum of 67 grams of total fat each day. Ideally, she says, at least two-thirds of your fat intake should come from polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat.

"Some diets, like the Mediterranean style of eating, are made up of a slightly higher percentage of fat, [with fat comprising]approximately 30-40 percent of daily calories," Stalfort says. "However, that higher fat intake is counterbalanced with choices coming from predominately unsaturated fat sources, moderate total caloric intake and daily physical activity."

The AHA's Face the Fats campaign is funded by $7 million received from McDonalds USA as part of the settlement of a California class-action lawsuit brought by consumer advocacy group bantransfat.com, according to the AHA.

McDonald's recently announced that it has eliminated trans fats from its fried foods by changing to a canola-based cooking oil.

Learn more about heart disease prevention - and UVA's Heart and Vascular Center - at www.uvahealth.com.

Women can learn more about their unique risks for heart disease - and how to better manage those risks - through Live Red, a new UVA heart-health initiative. You'll learn how heart attack symptoms can be different for women than for men, and you can take an online risk assessment to learn your personal heart disease risk factors.

There, you can sign up for Club Red, our free heart-healthy club for women. Benefits include tips from UVA healthcare providers and a gift package to help you live red in style.

Always consult your physician for more information.