Santa Rosa, CA Senior Care Tip: Can Reducing Saturated Fat Improve Heart Health?
Learn the possible reasons why reducing saturated fat to improve heart health may not be working for you.
Our senior care experts in Santa Rosa, CA understand that it’s tough to make the right dietary choices when recommendations appear to constantly be changing. We’d been told that saturated fats from sources such as butter, red meat and fried food were detrimental and might affect a person’s odds of developing heart problems, but later research indicated there isn’t enough proof that people who gave up these delicacies improved their heart health – and so, we went back to our old ways due to the green light to select butter over margarine.
However, as reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, scientists clarify that the lack of noticeable results in reducing fatty foods is more likely related to equally poor dietary choices selected in place of those fats – such as refined carbs. In the study, it was noted that those who exchanged fatty foods in their diet with healthier options, like olive oil (a polyunsaturated fat) and whole grains did lower their heart disease risk up to 25%.
According to Adela Hruby, one of many researchers in this study, “We know that people don’t just drop 10% of their calories…and not replace them with other things. What they’re adding in to replace what they’re not eating is really important.”
The research, led by Dr. Frank Hu of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, was remarkably in-depth, tracking the results of just below 130,000 subjects of both genders over thirty years. Keeping an eye on dietary choices and any heart-related conditions, it was determined that both women and men who ate carbohydrates instead of fatty foods were attaining an almost equal risk of cardiovascular disease – a statistic missed in older studies that had determined there clearly was no benefit to reducing the level of saturated fat in a meal plan.
So what may be the takeaway with this study? Better heart health can be attained by not merely decreasing the total amount of saturated fat in a meal plan, but also by selecting healthier items instead of foods with lots of sugar or processed flour-based foods.
Hired Hands Homecare can be readily available to plan and prepare heart-healthy meals that are not only nutritious, but delicious, helping seniors reduce their risk for heart attacks and disease. We are able to also assist aging adults with:
- Making appropriate dietary choices, and picking up groceries so that fresh, well balanced meals are always available.
- Medication reminders
- Carrying out physician-recommended activity programs
- Safe accompaniment to doctor appointments as well as other outings
- And much more
Call us at (866) 940-4343 to learn more about our senior care in Santa Rosa, CA and the surrounding areas.
Leave a Reply