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Saturated Fat is NOT the Enemy

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  3. Saturated Fat is NOT the…
Saturated Fat

Nutrition advice has performed some pretty spectacular flip-flops over the past few decades. First nuts were thought to cause heart disease, then eggs were banished from the breakfast table only to be welcomed back later. Margarine was first deemed healthier than butter—until researchers determined that the trans fats were much harder on the arteries.

Saturated Fat De-Villainized

Yes you heard me right… the time has come for saturated fats to be de-villainized as cause of all heart disease.
 “The mantra that saturated fat must be removed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease has dominated dietary advice and guidelines for almost four decades,” says Dr Aseem Malhotra author of a recent editorial in BMJ.  And it’s time for that to change!

Scientists universally accept that trans fats—found in many fast foods, bakery products, and margarines—increase the risk of cardiovascular disease through inflammatory processes. But “saturated fat” is another story. The mantra that saturated fat must be removed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease has dominated dietary advice and guidelines for almost four decades. Yet scientific evidence shows that this advice has, paradoxically, increased our cardiovascular risks. Furthermore, the obsession with levels of total cholesterol, which has led to the overmedication of millions of people with statins, has diverted our attention from the more egregious risk factor of atherogenic dyslipidemia.

 

Saturated fats, like butter, provide essential nutrients

Recent studies have not supported any significant association between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular risk. Instead, it has been found to be protective. The source of the saturated fat may be important. Organic butter is a great provider of vitamins A and D and there is a link between vitamin D deficiency and a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular mortality.

Butter is a key source of the most easily utilized form of Vitamin A, required for support of skin and organs, including endocrine glands, the immune system and the brain. And butter is loaded with antioxidants! It contains vitamin E, good cholesterol (the type that is not oxidized) and is important for brain function. It is a natural source of conjugated linoleic acids (CLA), which show promise in research for holding weight to a normal range and preventing diabetes.

Processed meats, not organic, pasture-raised dairy and beef, are dangerous…

One study showed that higher concentrations of plasma palmitoleic acid, a fatty acid mainly found in dairy foods, was associated with higher concentrations of high density lipoprotein, lower concentrations of triglycerides and C reactive protein, reduced insulin resistance, and a lower incidence of diabetes in adults.  Red meat is a major source of saturated fat. Consumption of processed meats, but not red meat, has been associated with coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus, which may be explained by nitrates and sodium as preservatives.

Carbohydrates, especially processed ones may be a bigger risk factor for inflammation & heart disease.

Saturated fat may raise LDL cholesterol. But compared to carbohydrates, it also raises HDL cholesterol and lowers triglycerides. If we looked just at LDL, we would predict that saturated fat raises heart disease risk. If we looked at the effect of saturated fat on HDL and triglycerides, we would suppose that saturated fat lowers that risk. If we looked at the combination, we would predict that saturated fat is relatively neutral for heart disease risk compared to carbohydrates.

Dr. Malhotra’s editorial suggests the following:

  • Low-saturated-fat diets cut levels of lower-risk large, buoyant LDL particles rather than the small, dense LDL particles thought to worsen cardiovascular disease.
  • Dietary saturated fat may actually protect against cardiovascular risk.
  • Low-fat diets promote an atherogenic pattern of blood lipids and worsen insulin resistance.
  • Low total-cholesterol levels are “associated with cardiovascular death, indicating that high total cholesterol is not a risk factor in a healthy population.”
  • Even in secondary prevention, no cholesterol-lowering drug besides statins has shown survival benefit, supporting the hypothesis that the benefits of statins are independent of their effects on cholesterol.
  • The “Mediterranean diet” confers three times the survival benefit in secondary prevention, compared with statins; it led to a 30% improvement compared with a “low-fat” diet in the PREDIMED study.

So here’s my list of the Top Ten Saturated Fats you can enjoy guilt-free!

  1. Coconut oil
  2. Egg yolks
  3. Avocado
  4. Organic pastured, cultured butter or Ghee
  5. Organic dark chocolate
  6. Sardines
  7. Raw organic cheese
  8. Brazil nuts
  9. Macademia nuts
  10. Cashews
Read the BMJ editorial here

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The product mentioned in this article are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.   The information in this article is not intended to replace any recommendations or relationship with your physician.  Please review references sited at end of article for scientific support of any claims made.

Category: NutritionBy Jill Carnahan, MDOctober 29, 201310 Comments
Tags: cholesterolFat vs. sugarharmful fatshealthy fatsheart attackheart diseaseheart disease preventionlow-fat dietpale dietsaturated fatsaturated fatsstatinstrans fat
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Author: Jill Carnahan, MD

https://molddetoxbox.com/

Dr. Jill is Your Functional Medicine Expert! She uses functional medicine to help you find answers to the cause of your illness and addresses the biochemical imbalances that may be making you feel ill. She'll help you search for underlying triggers contributing to your illness through cutting edge lab testing and tailor the intervention to your specific needs as an individual. She may use diet, supplements, lifestyle changes or medication to treat your illness but will seek the most gentle way to help your body restore balance along with the least invasive treatment possible. Dr. Jill is a functional medicine expert consultant and treats environmental and mold-related illness as well

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10 Comments

  1. David Bailey says:
    November 1, 2013 at 5:00 am

    Hear, hear!

     Reply
  2. Marta Yeomans says:
    November 7, 2013 at 7:09 pm

    Thanks Jill,ben praching that butter’s better for ears. so mch love your way,Dad C.

     Reply
  3. Anonymous says:
    November 18, 2013 at 6:00 am

    There’s a book on the use (misuse) of statins that should blow the lid off this whole subject. It’s by John and Hannah Yoseph, but the full title escapes me at the moment. Zoe Harcombe did an excellent review of the book that should be read by anyone who is on a statin or knows someone who is. I know I will never take one. Full stop!

     Reply
  4. Anonymous says:
    January 8, 2014 at 12:28 pm

    I am a huge fan of Ghee – for ingesting and it is a wonderful eye moisturizer (plain version in micro-mini drop dosage). Thanks for introducing me to this company – I just placed a big order so that I can sample a variety of their goods. And I have been looking for mini sized glass jars w/o plastic lids for years!
    Charlene

     Reply
  5. Corey Bohler says:
    May 16, 2014 at 1:51 pm

    Hey Jill. Question for you. When incorporating these fats into our diet, what is the % of this type of fat that should make up our total calories and the grams that you recommend that we stay under. Obviously, anything can be taken to the extreme and I was wondering what those thresholds should look like. Thanks.

    Also, what would you recommend for % of daily calories for healthy carbs, protein, and fat?

     Reply
    • Jill Carnahan, MD says:
      May 16, 2014 at 8:25 pm

      Hi Corey, I personalize recommendations to the individual but healthy fats are essential to a healthy gut and healthy brain function and there are certain situations where a particular individual may be 60-80% of calories in diet from fat, believe it or not!? Minimum amounts of proteins if you’re healthy weight and you don’t lift weights or do extensive exercise are around 0.36 to 0.6 grams per pound (0.8 to 1.3 gram per kg). This amounts to: 55-90 grams per day for the average male and 45-75 grams per day for the average female. I recommend 25-30 grams of fructose or less per day as well.

       Reply
  6. click to see more says:
    August 20, 2014 at 2:55 am

    What is the most healthy diet?

     Reply
    • Jill Carnahan, MD says:
      August 20, 2014 at 6:09 am

      Hi Mires,
      It’s all individualized based on your genetics, overall health, etc.. There is no one-size fits all. However, I do recommend clean, unprocessed, organic food diet of real whole food for everyone. Get rid of anything packaged, processed or with a label of more than 3-5 ingredients. Most people feel better avoiding gluten. And it’s also helpful to avoid corn and soy in foods as most is processed and genetically modified. Certainly get rid of all sugar and alcohol in general, eat organic protein sources, lots of healthy fat and get your carbs from fruits and abundance of veggies.

       Reply
  7. Jeremy Hodel says:
    December 8, 2016 at 8:48 pm

    What’s your take on the ketogenic diet? Particularly for those not interested in losing weight? I’ve been trying to eat high fat, low carb, and moderate protein but I’m still probably averaging 120g for carbs and 90g for protein. Is there harm in high fat if you’re not keto adapted? -Jer

     Reply
    • Jill Carnahan, MD says:
      December 8, 2016 at 8:56 pm

      Huge fan of the ketogenic diet! Highly recommend Keto Clarity by Jimmy Moore to get you started. It’s amazing for pre-diabetes, seizures, toxicity, weight loss and more… They key is that you cannot have both fat and carbs. The ketogenic diet really only works when the carbs are low enough to induce fat burning for fuel (ketosis) instead of glucose metabolism. Everyone is different and some enter ketosis with 120 carbs and others need to go < 50.

       Reply

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Dr. Jill will help you search for underlying triggers contributing to your illness through cutting edge lab testing and tailor the intervention to your specific needs as an individual.
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