A Complete Guide to Healthy Fats for Older Adults
Created in partnership with Registered Dietitian, Cara Rosenbloom
Guide Sections
Contrary to what we’ve long been told, fat is an important and essential part of our diet, and can even be good for our heart.
To gain clarity on one of nutrition’s most confusing topics, we partnered with registered dietitian Cara Rosenbloom to create a comprehensive but easy-to-understand guide that helps you decipher which healthy fats to include in your diet, and which fats to avoid.
Current Dietary Fat Guidelines
Many of us still believe the nutrition lessons we learned in the 1990s, when guidelines advised us to “choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat and cholesterol.”
Low-fat options were prized and store shelves were lined with fat-free foods. The old adage was that “fat makes us fat,” and in addition to weight gain, we believed all fat was bad for heart health too. Fast forward 25 years and the new 2015-2020 dietary guidelines recommend a healthy eating pattern that includes foods such as nuts and oils.
Fat is no longer feared or vilified like it was in the 90s. This new advice marks a departure from marking all fats as “bad” foods that should be limited, and really drills down into the type of fats we should choose. Quite simply, some fats are better than others. Here’s what you need to know.
Benefits of Monounsaturated Fats
Monounsaturated fat is a key feature of the Mediterranean Diet, a healthy eating plan that’s linked to increased longevity and reduced chronic pain.
Monounsaturated fat helps lower inflammation and bad low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol while simultaneously increasing healthy high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Monounsaturated fat, which is also known as omega-9 fats, helps reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and developing atherosclerosis (the hardening and narrowing of the arteries). Studies show that people with diabetes are be better able to manage blood sugar levels when they eat foods high in monounsaturated fats instead of foods high in saturated or trans fat.
Food Sources
Food sources of monounsaturated fats include olives, olive oil, canola oil, avocado, avocado oil, macadamia nuts, almonds, hazelnuts.
Benefits of Polyunsaturated Fats
Oil that’s rich in polyunsaturated fats provides essential fatty acids that the body requires but can’t produce itself. These are called omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. It’s important to discuss them separately because they’re not the same.
Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids
Known for their role in promoting heart health, omega-3 fats (specifically DHA from fish more so than ALA from plants) can help lower triglycerides, blood pressure and inflammation, while promoting an increase in “good” HDL cholesterol.
Food Sources
Plant-based food sources (ALA) of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids include walnuts, canola, flax, hemp, chia and oils made from these foods. Marine-based food sources (DHA and EPA) include fatty fish such as salmon, trout, tuna, herring, sardines, etc.
Most North Americans don’t get enough of these dietary omega-3s, and to make matters worse, consume an excess of omega-6 fats found in vegetable oil and many processed foods. This imbalance of high omega-6 to omega-3 leads to inflammation, which is associated with many chronic diseases and is considered a key driver of the aging process.
Omega-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids
Some omega-6 fat in the diet is necessary, but an imbalance (too much of it and too little omega-3) can lead to high blood pressure and inflammation, heart disease and cancer. Getting more omega-3 fats and less omega-6 fat can help combat inflammatory diseases such as heart and liver disease, obesity, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), rheumatoid arthritis, and Alzheimer’s.
Food Sources
Food sources of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids include oils such as sunflower, corn, soy, cottonseed and peanut and foods made with these oils.
Saturated Fats
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While saturated fat is getting better press in recent years, most experts still agree that foods containing saturated fats should be limited to 10% of calories, and largely be replaced by foods than contain mono- and poly-unsaturated fats. Studies show that replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats can reduce total LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, and reduce risk of heart attacks.
But before you say bye-bye to butter, note that not all studies show detriments from saturated fat. A recent investigation published in The Lancet found that total fat, saturated and unsaturated fats were not significantly associated with risk of heart attack or cardiovascular disease mortality. Research is ongoing.
Food Sources
Food sources of saturated fats include butter, cheese, whole milk, meat, poultry, as well as plant-based oils such as palm, coconut and palm kernel oil, and processed foods made with butter, coconut or palm oil.
Trans Fats
Let’s not sugar coat it. These fats are bad for you. End of story. Studies show that there’s really no safe level to eat, so guidelines recommend getting as close to zero dietary trans fats as possible. A number of studies have also noted a link between trans fats and increased risk of LDL (bad) cholesterol and heart disease.
(It’s important to note that animal products, such as meat and cheese contain small amounts of naturally occurring trans fats which are not as detrimental to our health.)
Food Sources
Found when oil is partially hydrogenated (hardened) to become solid, and used in processed foods (crackers, cookies, baked goods, pastries, deep fried foods) to extend their shelf life. Trans fat is also found in some brands of margarine and shortening.
