?saturated fat

?trans-fat (partially hydrogenated oils)

?monounsaturated fat

?polyunsaturated fat.

Saturated fat-found primarily in red meat, full-fat dairy products, and some tropical oils-has well-established negative health effects, increasing your risk of diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, some cancers, and obesity.

One researcher, writing in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, concluded that "reducing dietary intake of saturated fatty acids may prevent thousands of cases of coronary heart disease and save billions of dollars in related costs." There's little that's positive about saturated fat and it should make up no more than 7 percent of your fat calories per day.

Trans-fats-listed on food labels as "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil"-are also bad, probably even worse than saturated fat. Trans-fats were created by chemists seeking a fat that would store better than animal fats. They were attempting to lengthen the shelf life of foodstuffs.

Don't forget that I told you earlier that there are good fats. The good guys in the fat family are the monounsaturated fats-the kinds found in olive and canola oils. These fats not only protect your cardiovascular system, they also lower the risk of insulin resistance, a physiological state that can lead to diabetes and possibly cancer.

Finally, we come to polyunsaturated fatty acids. Both omega-6 /linoleic, or LA, fat and omega-3 (alpha linolenic, or ALA, fat) are so-called essential polyunsaturated fatty acids (EFAs). Our bodies cannot manufacture these two fats and therefore we must rely on dietary intake to avoid a deficiency in these essential (for life) fats. Omega-6 fatty acids are currently overabundant in the typical Western diet. They are present in corn, safflower, cottonseed, and sunflower oils. Virtually no one in North America is deficient in these ubiquitous fatty acids. If you look at almost any packaged food, you're going to see one of these oils as an ingredient.

William S. Harris, writing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, said: "In terms of its potential impact on health in the Western world, the Omega 3 story may someday be viewed as one of the most important in the history of modern nutritional science." Dr. Evan Cameron, from the Linus Pauling Institute, has said: "Our epidemic of heart disease and cancer may be the result of a fish oil deficiency so enormous we fail to recognize it." The bottom line: it's not just okay to include omega-3 fatty acids in your diet, it's imperative to do so if you want to restore a critical balance in your body that is most likely out of whack.

A solution to this problem: Salmon, wild salmon more specifically. Salmon is one of the richest, tastiest, readily available sources of marine-derived omega-3 fatty acids available to us. By including wild salmon in your diet two to four times a week you should achieve optimal protection against a multitude of diseases that have been associated with low intakes of these critical fats.

The key to EFAs-as with so many health issues-is balance. Your body can't function optimally without a balanced ratio of EFAs. The optimum balance of essential fatty acids is a balance of omega-6 to omega-3 that is somewhere between 1 to 1 and 4 to 1. Unfortunately, the typical Western diet contains fourteen to twenty-five times more omega-6 than omega-3 fatty acids. This imbalance determines a myriad of biochemical events that affect our health. For example, too much omega-6 (the oil that dominates our typical diet) promotes an inflammatory state, which in turn increases your risk for blood clots and narrowing of blood vessels.

We now also know that without a sufficient intake of omega-3 fatty acids, the body cannot adequately build an ideal cell membrane. Membranes that are poorly constructed are not capable of optimizing cellular health, which in turn increases your risk for a host of health problems, including stroke, heart attack, cardiac arrhythmias, some forms of cancer, insulin resistance-which can lead to diabetes-asthma, hypertension, age-related macular degeneration, chronic obstructive lung disease (COPE), autoimmune disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and depression.

Research is just beginning to demonstrate that omega-3 fatty acids may play a role in preventing both breast and colon cancers.

In the Nurses' Health Study, those who ate fish four or more times a week had a lower risk of age-related macular degeneration than those who ate three or fewer fish meals per month. The most prevalent fatty acid in our retina is DHA, and the primary dietary source of this "good fat" is salmon and other so-called heart-healthy fish. DHA also seems to reduce some of the adverse effects of sunlight on retinal cells.

Researchers believe that the anti-inflammatory abilities of omega-3 fatty acids are what help reduce the symptoms of autoimmune diseases as well as prolong the survival of those who suffer from them. Multiple studies have substantiated these results.

Perhaps the most interesting research on omega-3 fatty acids involved their relationship to mental health ailments such as depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dementia, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and Alzheimer's disease. Our brains are surprisingly fatty: over 60 percent of the brain is fat. Omega-3 fatty acids promote the brain's ability to regulate mood-related signals. They are a crucial constituent of brain-cell membranes and are needed for normal nervous system function, mood regulation, and attention and memory functions.

When it comes to omega-3 fatty acids, wild salmon is one simple answer. Add it to your diet. Wild salmon is delicious, high in protein, widely available in canned form, easy to prepare, and, more important, high in beneficial omega-3 fatty acids. If you eat wild salmon or other cold-water fish, like sardines or trout, two to four times a week, you'll 'rebalance' the ratio of fatty acids in your body and be on your way to vastly improving your cellular health. There's ample evidence that including cold-water fish like wild salmon in your diet will have a positive effect on your short and long-term health.