The skinny on fat: ‘How to eat to avoid chronic diseases’

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This is the first celebration of Heart Month (it comes every February) since the release of the updated dietary guidelines for Americans. The new recommendations are meant to represent the most current scientific evidence on how to eat to avoid chronic diseases, including heart disease.

While no one argues about the incredible health benefits of vegetables and fruit, there’s been much more chatter about the role of fat in our diets, especially as it pertains to the care of our hearts.

After years of avoiding some fats like the plague, these new guidelines tell us that “healthy fats are plentiful in many whole foods, such as meats, poultry, eggs, omega-3-rich seafood, nuts, seeds, full-fat dairy, olives and avocados.”

Really? Meat and whole fat dairy—typically higher in saturated fat—are now sources of healthy fats?

What has changed are the findings of researchers who—over the past 50 years or so—have studied various types of fats and their influence on heart health. For example, a 2023 systematic review on this topic in the journal Nutrients stated, “In contrast to the long-standing dogma, recent research has questioned the recommendation to reduce total saturated fat.”

Scientists base these comments on findings that all saturated fats are not created equal. Stearic acid, for example, is a saturated fat found in meat and dairy foods. It’s also found in coconut oil and cocoa butter (as in chocolate). The good news: This type of saturated fat has been found to have a neutral effect on one’s risk for heart disease.

Still, the latest dietary guidelines repeat past recommendations for us not to consume more than 10% of our daily calories from saturated fat. That’s because “more high-quality research is needed to determine which types of dietary fats best support long-term health.”

Some types of fats remain “essential” for human health, however. These include omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids found in foods such as olive, flaxseed and other vegetable oils, fish, seeds and nuts. And it’s still accepted that these types of fats can help lower our risk for heart attacks when consumed in place of saturated fats.

That’s one reason why the new dietary guidelines advise, “when cooking with or adding fats to meals, prioritize oils with essential fatty acids, such as olive oil.”

So, in the midst of what we now know and still don’t know about the role of saturated fat in heart health, many experts say it’s safe to include nutrient-dense foods that naturally contain saturated fats in our diets.

And we certainly need to continue our focus on fruits, vegetables and other plant-based foods. Dietary fiber in these foods is reliably good for our hearts along with other health benefits. That’s a plan that our hearts will love.

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