How much is saturated fat?
Figures show how much of the fat in each product is saturated:
ANIMAL FATS VEGETA1LE OILS TROPICAL OILS
Beef tallow 50% Canola oil 7% Coconut oil 87%
Chicken fat 30 Corn oil 13 Palm kernel oil 82
Pork fat (lard) 39 Cottonseed oil 26 Palm oil 49
Turkey fat 30 Olive oil Peanut oil Safflower oil Sesame oil Soybean oil Sunflower oil 13 17 9 14 15 10
SOURCE: J. A. T. Pennington, Bowes and Church’s Food Values of Portions Commonly Used, 16th Ed. (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1994).
POODS WITH SPECIAL IFPICfS
Certain foods have special effects, lowering your cholesterol even further and protecting against the damage that cholesterol can cause. They are not a substitute for the low - fat, vegetarian diet that is essential for cleaning away artery blockages, but they can add to its benefits.
• Oat products contain soluble fiber that lowers cholesterol levels. Soluble fiber is also found in beans, barley, vegetables, and fruits. A four - ounce serving of beans every day cuts cholesterol levels significantly.9
• Soy products have a special cholesterol - lowering effect, apart from the fact that they have no cholesterol or animal fat. If your burger is made of soybeans instead of beef, you’ll skip all the animal fat and
cholesterol and get soy’s extra cholesterol or buy tramadol online lowering benefit in the bargain.
• Garlic lowers cholesterol, and a little bit goes a long way. The effect amount is one - half to one clove per day.11
• Walnuts have a special cholesterol - lowering effect. They are as high in fat as any other nut, but somehow they have redeemed them - selves with an ability to reduce cholesterol levels that has not been fully explained. The amount shown to work in research studies is three ounces a day for four weeks.12
• Foods that are rich in beta - carotene, vitamin E, and vitamin С can reduce the damaging effects of cholesterol in your blood.13 They do this, believe it or not, by protecting cholesterol particles from being damaged as they travel in the blood. Damaged cholesterol particles end up being absorbed into the artery wall, which is actually how plaques start in the first place. If cholesterol is allowed to go to where it belongs without being damaged in transit, as it were, the risk of blockage formation is less. Orange vegetables, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins, are rich in beta - carotene, as are green, leafy vegetables. Grains, vegetables, and beans are rich in vitamin E. Citrus fruits, like many other fruits and vegetables, are rich in vitamin C.
• Be careful about iron. Iron accelerates heart disease, apparently by acting as a catalyst for the production of free radicals that can damage cholesterol and increase the risk of plaque formation.14,15 Your red blood cells do need some iron to carry oxygen, but excesses can be risky.
There are advantages to getting your iron from plant sources— green, leafy vegetables and legumes—rather than from meat. The iron in plant products is in a form that your body can absorb more of when it is low in iron, and less of when it already has plenty. Meat, on the other hand, contains a form of iron called heme iron, which defies the body’s attempts to regulate it. It passes into the bloodstream even when you already have more than enough, as most men and postmenopausal women do. A recent Harvard study showed that the iron in meat increases the risk of heart problems, while iron from plant sources does not.15 See page 91 for guidelines on how to check your iron level and what to do about it.
• Certain В vitamins can help prevent heart attacks. Vitamins Вб,
B12, and folic acid help break down an amino acid called homocysteine, which tends to build up in the blood in some people and encourages artery blockages. A study of American physicians found that those in the top 5 percent of homocysteine levels had triple the risk of a heart attack, compared to those with lower levels. Researchers are still defining what is a dangerous homocysteine level, but numbers above 12 micromoles per liter are likely to be considered high.
Beans, vegetables, and fruits are rich in folic acid and vitamin Вб. Typical daily multiple vitamins provide an adequate amount of these vitamins, along with vitamin В12. Animal products are very low in folic acid and are actually high in an amino acid called methionine, which produces the dangerous homocysteine.
