Monounsaturated Fats and Heart Disease (Protect Your Heart with FAT!)

Healthy oils, nuts and seeds aren’t just pleasing to the palette. They can also provide powerful protection for your heart.

Monounsaturated Fats and Heart Disease:  A Healthy Fat Diet Trumps a Low-Fat Diet for Heart Health

Research conducted at the State University of New York found that consuming a moderate fat diet providing monounsaturated fatty acids offers more benefits to the heart than a diet low in fat.

In this study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, subjects were separated into two groups for weight loss – low fat and moderate fat. The people following the moderate fat diet rich in MUFAs not only lost weight, but also reduced their triglycerides and LDL or “bad cholesterol while maintaining levels of heart healthy HDL cholesterol.

Those in the low fat group lost the weight, too, but their triglycerides rebounded and their HDL levels sank at the end of the study.

Eat MORE Healthy Fat for a Longer, Healthier Life

Make heart healthy monounsaturated fats the cornerstone of your diet by enjoying these MUFA-rich foods:

• Avocados and avocado oil
• Macadamia nuts and macadamia nut oil
• Olives and olive oil
• Pistachios and almonds