"The approach of many mainstream investigators in studying the effect of consuming saturated fats has been narrowly focused to produce and evaluate evidence in support of the hypothesis that dietary saturated fat elevates LDL cholesterol and thus the risk of CAD. The evidence is not strong, and overall, dietary intervention by lowering saturated fat intake does not lower the incidence of nonfatal CAD; nor does such dietary intervention lower coronary disease or total mortality." (German and Dillard, Am J or Clin Nutr, 2004)
What?
That was 5 years ago and today on CNN the Crestor add still vilifies sat fats and cholesterol in contributing to CAD.
Anyway, I think changes are starting to happen, perhaps with Pres. Obama's stress on utilizing science.
In any case, we know that sat fats are essential in the body. Heck, we produce them ourselves, especially lactating women feeding their babies.
OK, so some good sat fats:
Butyric acid - may play a role in cancer prevention, is a modulator of the immune response and inflammation, functions as an antitumor agent by inhibiting growth and promotion differentiation and apoptosis (s-that is, cell death).
caproic, caprylic and capric acids - the second two have antiviral activity, monocaprin has antiviral activity against HIV, caprylic acid has antitumor activity in mice.
lauric acid - antiviral and antibacterial functions, kills heliobacter pylorii in the stomach, anticaries and antiplaque agent, has adverse effects on various microorganisms including bacteria, yeast, fungi and enveloped viruses, by disrupting lipid membranes and deactivating them.
myristic acid - associated with CAD but most strongly related to average serum cholesterol concentrations, can also increase HDL levels.
palmitic acid - in normal healthy people with normal cholesterol levels, palmitic acid lowers serum cholesterol, replacement of laurate-myristate with palmitate-oleate has a beneficial effect on an important index of thrombogenesis.
stearic acid - and other acids with less than 12 carbon atoms are thought not to increase cholesterol concentrations. Produces beneficial effects on thrombogenic and athergenic risk factors.
So they are not completely without merit. Next time, the effects of sat fats on cholesterol.
Showing posts with label Saturated fats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saturated fats. Show all posts
Monday, June 1, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
The Skinny on Saturated Fats
Maybe Gary Taubes already said this, but sat fats are not the culprit.
I'm reading an article by J Bruce German and Cora J Dillard, from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2004;80:550-9, for those who check references.
What the article basically says, is don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. First, what more and more of us know, "high-carbohydrate diets were recognized as contributing to the lipoprotein pattern that charcterizes atherogenic dyslipidemia and hypertriacylglycerolemia."
In short, when the food industry began to remove sat fats from foods, they substituted carbohydrates in many forms. And those carbs not only made us fatter or obese, they changed our blood lipid profile to one which is "atherogenic" or bad for our blood vessels and circulation, and they gave us high triglycerides. Thanks a lot.
More interestingly, the article points out some of the things that saturated fats, or fatty acids, do is not bad, and what's more, some have positive effects on the body. The article states that there is no strong evidence that saturated fat elevates LDL cholesterol and thus the risk of CAD. What has not been studied is the possibility that some of the saturated fats might have positive effects, since mammals have within the mammary gland the means to produce a number of saturated fats, namely butyric, caproic, caprylic, capric, lauric, myristic, palmitic and stearic acids, to ensure the growth and survival of mammalian offspring. Evolution is a funny things, and things seem to have happened for a reason.
The article notes that saturated fats are the preferred fuel for the heart, a source of fuel during energy expenditure.
It concludes that the advice to remove sat fats from the diet has made us all fatter, and has failed to have any effect on the prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Next time: the sat fats and what they do for us.
I'm reading an article by J Bruce German and Cora J Dillard, from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2004;80:550-9, for those who check references.
What the article basically says, is don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. First, what more and more of us know, "high-carbohydrate diets were recognized as contributing to the lipoprotein pattern that charcterizes atherogenic dyslipidemia and hypertriacylglycerolemia."
In short, when the food industry began to remove sat fats from foods, they substituted carbohydrates in many forms. And those carbs not only made us fatter or obese, they changed our blood lipid profile to one which is "atherogenic" or bad for our blood vessels and circulation, and they gave us high triglycerides. Thanks a lot.
More interestingly, the article points out some of the things that saturated fats, or fatty acids, do is not bad, and what's more, some have positive effects on the body. The article states that there is no strong evidence that saturated fat elevates LDL cholesterol and thus the risk of CAD. What has not been studied is the possibility that some of the saturated fats might have positive effects, since mammals have within the mammary gland the means to produce a number of saturated fats, namely butyric, caproic, caprylic, capric, lauric, myristic, palmitic and stearic acids, to ensure the growth and survival of mammalian offspring. Evolution is a funny things, and things seem to have happened for a reason.
The article notes that saturated fats are the preferred fuel for the heart, a source of fuel during energy expenditure.
It concludes that the advice to remove sat fats from the diet has made us all fatter, and has failed to have any effect on the prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Next time: the sat fats and what they do for us.
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