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Researchers at Tufts University found that if you eat less saturated fats, you can improve your health, especially while increasing the amounts of polyunsaturated fats and reducing levels of bad cholesterol.

Their findings were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (AHA)

"Our findings highlight the importance of ending America's fear of all fat. We estimate that nearly 50,000 Americans die of heart disease each year due to low intake of vegetable oils," said senior study author and dean of the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, via Health Day.

Information from 186 countries were examined and compared with previous ones, following people over long periods to see how eating some kinds of fat affected the risk of contracting heart disease. Information on death rate was gathered from the 2010 Global Burden of Diseases study.

More than 700,000 heart disease deaths could be due to less omega-6 polyunsaturated fats replacing saturated fats and refined carbohydrates. It thus led to 10.3 percent of total global death from heart disease, said UPI.

 However, there were more than 250,000 heart disease deaths due to excess consumption of saturated fats, while about 3.6 percent of global heart disease deaths and 7.7 percent of the global total were caused by too much consumption of trans fats, according to researchers.

"These findings should be of great interest to both the public and policy makers around the world, helping countries to set their nutrition priorities to combat the global epidemic of heart disease," Mozaffarian said.

The verdict is clear. Eat more healthy diets, including more fish, nuts and vegetable oil, along with regular exercise and rest. You can skimp on the refined starch and carbohydrates.