Since polyunsaturated fat doesn’t raise blood cholesterol, can I eat a lot of it?
It is true that blood cholesterol does not rise when you eat polyunsaturated fat, which is found mostly in vegetable oils such as corn, sunflower and safflower oils and products made with them. However, blood cholesterol is not the only health concern related to the different kinds of fat that we eat. All fat is concentrated in calories. Too much of any kind makes it harder to maintain a healthy weight. The chemistry of cells in our body can also change because of the type of fat we eat. In large amounts, polyunsaturated fats can promote health problems and aging because they make us more vulnerable to damage from destructive “free radicals” that are naturally produced during normal body processes. Antioxidant vitamins and phytochemicals help to protect us from free-radical damage, but we make their job harder when we eat too much polyunsaturated fat. There is one type of polyunsaturated fat, however, that we should eat more of. The omega-3 fats found in fatty fish like salmon, as well
