Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Why do we need oils and nuts?

Replacing saturated fat or carbohydrate with unsaturated fat definitively lowers LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.  And there's a huge amount of evidence that will reduce the risk of heart attacks.  It does seem that there's some added benefit of polyunsaturated fats above monounsaturated fats, but virtually all oils and nuts have some of both.

Q: With 120 calories in a T. of oil and about 175 calories in just 1/4 cup of nuts, isn't it easy to go overboard?
A: Of course.  It's too much of a good thing.  Eating a horrible diet and pouring oil on it is not a good idea, just like sprinkling bran on a horrible diet is not a good idea.  If you consume nuts and oils as part of an overall healthy diet, it's easier to control calories, but that means replacing bad stuff with good stuff.

Walter Willett is chair of the Dept. of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School.  He has published over 1,400 scientific articles on diet and disease. Excerpt from Nutrition Action Healthletter

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