Fats

You may begrudge belly fat because it makes it tougher to fit into your clothes, but a bigger reason to whittle your waistline is for your health.

A lot of factors likely affect how much food you eat, such as how it looks and smells, how tasty it is, how filling you believe the food will be and whether you were taught to "clean your plate" when you were young. Environmental influences, such as the size of food packages, how much food youre served and social norms, can also have a big impact.

All vegetable oils are made entirely of fat, but each type has a different blend of polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and saturated fat. Canola oil is predominantly comprised of monounsaturated fat with a low amount of saturated fat - even lower than most other cooking oils." Monounsaturated fat, when used to replace saturated fat in your dietary pattern, is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.

Recently discovered internal documents from the 1960s reveal that the sugar industry paid scientists to play down the cardiovascular risks of sugar consumption and instead blame saturated fat.

While you're celebrating the holidays this season, your body could be quietly sending out a cry for help. The period from Thanksgiving through New Years can be a disaster for your best intentions of watching what you eat and staying active.

Swapping healthy unsaturated fats for carbohydrates or saturated fats may reduce your risk of diabetes, according to a new analysis of 102 randomized trials totaling 4,660 participants.

A study of older Dutch men provides new insight into why tea and cocoa protect against heart disease, showing for the first time that a compound called epicatechin is associated with reduced mortality from cardiovascular disease.

An analysis of 19 studies involving 45,637 participants in 16 countries provides the most comprehensive picture to date of how omega-3 fats may influence heart disease. Higher blood levels of omega-3s from seafood as well as plants were associated with a lower risk of dying from heart attacks

What's good for your heart might also be good for your aching knees. High intakes of saturated fat were associated with a faster progression of knee osteoarthritis in a new prospective observational study, while consuming more heart-healthy unsaturated fats was linked to slower progression.

An important nutrient for reaching old age free of disease and disability might surprise you. According to a new Australian study, it's dietary fiber - a nutrient that, by definition, you don't even digest. In its path through your body, however, fiber is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers.