Trans fats contribute to clogged arteries which are a sign of heart disease; they increase your risk of both heart attack and stroke. Oils with trans fat are found in margarine or vegetable shortening.
Monounsaturated Fats
According to MayoClinic.com, consuming MUFAs improves your blood cholesterol levels, reduces your risk of heart disease and may help stabilize blood sugar levels. Foods high in monounsaturated fats include olive, canola, sunflower and sesame oils, avocados, pecans, almonds, salmon and herring.
While there is some truth to this (olive oil does appear to cause relatively less damage than saturated animal fats), it is important to note that 'less damage' is still damage. The scientific evidence clearly shows that olive oil plays a role both in damaging blood vessels as well as forming atherosclerotic plaques.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Olive oil is one of the healthiest options when considering which oil is best for a heart patient. It's packed with antioxidants that can improve circulation, promote a healthy gut, boost your immune system and reduce inflammation.
The food manufacturer used a process called "partial hydrogenation" to make that liquid oil more solid. That's also how vegetable shortening, like Crisco, is made. But liquid vegetable oils don't go through this process of "partial hydrogenation" so they do not have any of the artery-clogging trans fats.
The healthiest oils are those that are high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, such as vegetable oil and olive oil. These types of fats can help lower your risk of heart disease when used instead of saturated fats.
Luckily, there are so-called “good fats” – unsaturated fats – that can give your body energy and support the growth of cells without clogging your arteries. “Avocados contain omega-3 fatty acids, which is the fat that is heart-healthy,” Kim explains.
“Saturated fats, often found in meat and dairy products as well as coconut oil, can increase LDL levels in your blood,” says Dr. Russell. “This in turn increases your risk of heart disease, peripheral artery disease and stroke.” Eating foods that contain coconut oil can increase your risk for heart problems.
So, can we reduce plaque buildup? "Making plaque disappear is not possible, but we can shrink and stabilize it," says cardiologist Dr. Christopher Cannon, a Harvard Medical School professor. Plaque forms when cholesterol (above, in yellow) lodges in the wall of the artery.
Heart-healthy oils like canola, corn, olive, peanut, and sunflower oils contain monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. They help to lower harmful low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and raise healthy high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.
Choose plant-based oils rich in unsaturated fat.
The heart association suggests the following cooking oils, which meet its health standards: canola, corn, olive, peanut, safflower, soybean and sunflower, as well as specialty oils like avocado, grape-seed and sesame.
Recovered data from the Sydney Diet Heart Study also found that replacement of dietary saturated fats with omega-6 linoleic acid (from safflower oil and margarine) increased all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality and CHD mortality.
Avocado oil is a heart-healthy oil, high in oleic acid, which is an unsaturated fat. It contains vitamin E and also helps the body absorb other fat-soluble vitamins. Avocado oil is a good source of monounsaturated fat which has been linked to reducing LDL cholesterol and increasing HDL cholesterol.
A healthy diet rich in nutrient-dense foods may help reduce your risk of developing clogged arteries. Research has shown that adding foods like cruciferous vegetables, fish, berries, olive oil, oats, onions, greens, and beans to your diet may be an effective way to prevent atherosclerosis.
In vitro (15–19) and animal (19–23) studies suggest biological mechanisms through which magnesium may prevent or reverse plaque formation and calcification.
Medical treatment, regular exercise, and dietary changes can be used to keep atherosclerosis from getting worse and stabilize the plaque, but they aren't able to reverse the disease.
A drug made from a highly purified form of EPA (an omega-3 fatty acid found in fish) appears to help reduce plaque in the heart's arteries, according to a study published online Aug.
Myth: Coconut oil is a heart-healthy cooking alternative.
The reality: Coconut oil has been shown to raise cholesterol levels — the good and the bad kinds — more than other plant-based oils like olive or canola.