Consumption Of Healthy Fats May Help Extend Life

Researchers at Tufts University found just how important it is to replace bad dietary fats with good ones.

New findings published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (AHA) found that consuming fewer saturated fats was beneficial for health--particularly when it came to increasing the amounts of polyunsaturated fats and reducing levels of bad cholesterol.

"Our findings highlight the importance of ending America's fear of all fat. We estimate that nearly 50,000 Americans die of heart disease each year due to low intake of vegetable oils," said senior study author and and dean of the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, via Health Day.

During the study, researchers looked at information from 186 countries--examining previous studies that followed people over long periods of time to determine how eating certain fats affected heart disease risk. Death rate information was gathered from the 2010 Global Burden of Diseases study.

Findings revealed that over 700,000 heart disease deaths could be attributed to eating too little omega-6 polyunsaturated fats as a replacement for saturated fats and refined carbohydrates--accounting for 10.3 percent of total global death from heart disease, according to UPI. 

On the other hand, over 250,000 heart disease deaths occurred from excess consumption of saturated fats, about 3.6 percent of global heart disease deaths and about 7.7 percent of the global total were due to an over-consumption of trans fats, researchers say. 

"These findings should be of great interest to both the public and policy makers around the world, helping countries to set their nutrition priorities to combat the global epidemic of heart disease," Mozaffarian said, in a news release.

The study results encourage everyone to eat more healthy fats while minimizing consumption of refined starch and carbohydrates; This would include a diet with more fish, nuts and vegetable oil. Maintaining regular exercise and good rest are also important, as well.

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