One of the things we hear most about the so-called good fats is that they fight stress and reduce the incidence of certain diseases: but what are the good fats? In general, for good fats we mean unsaturated fats, i.e. both monounsaturated fats (omega9, for example in olive oil, avocado, obviously olives, but also partly bitter cocoa, for a third of fats, or almonds) and polyunsaturated ( omega 3 and 6: from fish to oil seeds to whole grains and dried fruit ).
Recently, a type of saturated fat, medium-chain ones, has also become fashionable, and labeled as good fats: coconut oil, so to speak, a practically all saturated oil.

But is it true that these unsaturated fats fight stress? The answer is nì, at least as far as omega6 fatty acids are concerned, which was already known. Not all unsaturated fats are in fact the same: in the standard Western diet, we consume many more omega6 than omega3, and on the one hand this is natural, because in nature the sources of omega6 are more numerous than omega3. In fact, in a healthy diet the ratio between the two should be from 2 to 3 up to a maximum of 4 parts for omega6 against one part of omega3 to obtain health improvements ( here a study). Instead, we generally eat triple omega6.
But even in the case of omega6s, not all omega6s are born equal: some are more inflammatory than benign.
That’s why eating plenty of oilseeds and whole grains and seasoning dishes with various seed oils might be a mistake, but let’s move on. Is it true that unsaturated fats in general reduce stress?

In this study, a sample of women undergoing a major stressor (stressor: stressful experience) eat a meal high in saturated or polyunsaturated fat (sunflower oil) the next day. Well, the polyunsaturated fat meal did not reduce stress, just like the saturated fat meal did.
What does it mean? It means that stress often affects the way we eat, for example, stress hormones make the body more resistant to insulin, triggering a hunger for sweets, but the healthy diet does not particularly affect stress, at least not in its introduction of more. unsaturated versus saturated fats.