“Fish Oils are Sounding Fishy”
For decades, we have been scolded and warned to avoid eating saturated fats because of their presumed link to heart disease. But, not so fast. Until now, doctors have said that saturated fats increase “bad” LDL cholesterol, which can cause plaques to form in your arteries and raise your risk of a heart attack or stroke. At the same time, omega-3 fish oils were said to improve heart health because they allegedly increase “good” HDL cholesterol. Good cholesterol is believed to help the body rid itself of bad cholesterol. Saturated fats are solid at room temperature. They can be found in butter, lard, cheese and cream, as well as the fatty white areas on cuts of meat. By contrast, unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature, such as those seen in vegetable cooking oil or olive oil. Amazingly, Dr. Rajiv Chowdhury, a cardiovascular epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge and lead author of a comprehensive review of nutrition research related to fats, and his team found that neither effect seemed to make much difference for overall cardiac risk.
