Eat · Brain health technique
Moderate saturated and trans fats
Evidence grade: Context Dependent
Saturated fat is found mainly in butter, cheese, fatty cuts of meat, and tropical oils. Trans fat comes from partially hydrogenated oils still present in some imports and old products.
- Practice
- Eat
- Principle
- Nourishment
- Tactic
- Other Nutritional Strategies
- Health domains
- neurocognitive, vascular
- Evidence grade
- Context Dependent
- Strength of evidence
- Medium
- Cost
- Low
- Effort
- Medium
- Time commitment
- Low
How to practice Moderate saturated and trans fats
While some people seem to tolerate saturated fat better than others, most adults do well keeping saturated fat below 10 percent of calories (about 20 grams in a 2,000-calorie diet). If you have high LDL cholesterol and are particularly susceptible, aim lower. Experts disagree somewhat: what replaces the fat matters more than the fat itself.
The evidence behind Moderate saturated and trans fats
Diets heavy in saturated and trans fats can increase LDL in many people. Observational studies comparing Mediterranean-style diets to high-fat Western diets show slower brain aging when saturated fats are lower and replaced by olive oil, nuts, and fish. Not every cut of red meat is high in saturated fat, lean, unprocessed meat isn’t the same as bacon or sausage.
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