February is “Heart Health Month” and the naturopathic experts at
the National University of Health Sciences in Lombard say one of
the best ways to protect your heart is to get familiar with
fats! “Most people understand that high cholesterol levels in
the blood can create heart health risks,” says Fraser Smith, ND,
who is the assistant dean of naturopathic medicine at NUHS. “But
there’s more to heart health than limiting saturated fat in your
diet.” “What can be even worse are damaged fats, such as the
‘polyunsaturated fats’ when they are rancid or oxidized from
high-heat cooking,” says Smith. “People are often told to
consume polyunsaturated fats for heart health, but aren’t told
that these fats can have adverse long-term effects when they are
damaged by cooking or by artificial processes. Even plain old
vegetable oil, if reused over and over in a deep fryer can build
up damaged fats that can jeopardize your health.” An extreme
example of a bad polyunsaturated fats are “trans fats” which
have hydrogen added