If you are a healthy person eating high fat foods occasionally is not a problem but eating high fat foods on a regular basis puts your heart at risk. The fat increases in your bloodstream in the form of triglicerides, which affect the blood vessels and slows down the metabolism of LDL – the bad cholesterol. This sends your bad cholesterol up. This clings to the inside of your arteries, making them narrower, which restricts the flow of blood and increases your blood pressure. All in all, not a good outcome.
Not all fats are the same
We have long been warned about eating too many meals that included saturated fats. These are fats found in animals and animal products. As people reduced their intake of food like red meat and dairy products and started eating more chicken and fish, heart disease dropped. Many of us reduced the amount of red meat we were eating and turned to margarine and low fat products. These changes did get good results but, with more people eating fast food and consuming more bad fats. Unlike saturated fats, which are essential to our well-being, trans fats have no nutritional value.
The Main Danger
Research has now come to the fore which points to trans fat as the main danger to increased heart disease. These are unsaturated fats and are a by-product of hydrogenation, which is the process used to make products like margarine. They were present in many early margarines and this was promoted as a health benefit, as they were perceived to be healthier than saturated fats. However, there was mounting evidence to the contrary. By 1994 it was estimated 20,000 people a year were dying from heart disease caused by the consumption of trans fats. Because of this, the FDA reduced the allowable amount of trans fat in margarine to a minimal amount.
The problem is, these fats are still very much present in many fast food outlets. Most deep fried foods have a high percentage of trans fats, as do foods like shop bought pies, cookies, pastries and cakes. You should only eat these high fats occasionally, as they do affect your heart. Health professionals have told us over many years to avoid eating fast foods on a regular basis. Perhaps we should listen to their warnings and cut down on these foods, as they do pose a high degree of risk to our health.