Fats – some that kill and others that ‘heal’
There has been so much news and misinformation about dietary fats in the last 60 years. It seems so confusing. Is fat the ultimate killing machine, clogging up your arteries and sending you packing to an early grave as Dr. Ansel Keys preached back in the1960’s? Or is fat the savior of humanity, fighting diseases like diabetes, arthritis and cancer, like proponents of the Keto diet have you believe? Every year, hell, every month the ‘fat standards’ are changing. Without getting too technical, let me bring you up to speed how fats relate to heart disease (and other diseases in general).
Dietary fats are a necessity for life. Almost every cell in your body needs it to function properly, especially the heart and the brain. Fats are a real powerhouse of energy, supplying your body with up to two-times more energy than proteins or carbohydrates. It is so energy efficient that excess fat will get stored for future use, most likely around your abdomen and under your skin, but also possibly in your blood vessels and within your organs where it could cause serious damage.
So if they are so good, yet so deadly for you, which fats should you consume? Saturated, unsaturated, transfats and how does cholesterol fit into this whole equation?
Let’s start with the badboy on the block, transfats. Some trans fatty acids occur naturally in dairy products and ruminant animals. They should not be of any concern, in fact CLA (conjugated lineolic acid) is marketed as a health supplement.
Most other transfats are man-made. They are unsaturated fats that are artificially transformed (hydrogenated) to make your food more tasty and in the process slowly kill you. You can tell that I feel very passionate about this fat. It is unfortunate that it took so long to include them in our food labels or to even restrict them outright. Most transfats are found in vegetable oils that are chemically altered to stay solid at room temperature such as margarine and vegetable shortening. Unknowingly to most, these fat villains are present in most processed foods. Think goodies like cookies, cakes, and other baked goods. Fast food like pizza, French fries and even popcorn contain it. Do you read the labels carefully? Well, not all labels will list transfats. Best thing to do…stop (or limit) buying processed food if you’re not sure that it contains unhealthy fats.
Ingesting transfats will cause your body to produce more of the bad cholesterol (LDL), it will cause inflammation in your blood vessels and ultimately cause heart attacks, strokes and type 2 diabetes. Stay away from it at all costs!
What about Unsaturated Fats? If transfats will give you a heart of stone, will unsaturated fats give you a heart of gold? Well, that depends. Unsaturated fats can be broken down into two camps, poly- and monounsaturated.
Monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) are found in food such as avocados, nuts, seeds and olives. Remember the Mediterranean Diet, the paradox that even though people in that region consumed lots of fatty foods, they have far lower rates of cardiovascular disease than in North America. MUFAs will raise your good cholesterol (HDL) which in turn transport cholesterol from your arteries to your liver. It also has anti-inflammatory qualities in your body. There is tons of evidence that these fats are good for the heart and reduce inflammation in the body. Better yet, there’s lots of evidence that MUFAs reduce insulin sensitivity and may even combat certain types of cancer among other things.
Polyunsaturated fats, another essential acid, are also considered healthy. But lately opinions of health experts are divided. Let me explain. Polyunsaturated fats can be broken down into Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids.
Omega-3 is the undisputed champ of healthy. Consumption of this fat is associated with elevating good cholesterol (HDL) levels, slowing plaque development, reducing abnormal heart functions and lessening the chance of sudden cardiac death in people with heart disease (hey, that last one is dear to my heart). I could go on but you get the picture. It is found in mostly fatty fish such as sardines, salmon, herring and trout but also found in walnuts, flax and chia seeds. Interestingly, fish do not synthesize Omega-3s, they are obtained from the algae and plankton in their diet.
Omega-6 is mostly found in processed seed and vegetable oils. Let’s talk oils: safflower, grapeseed, corn, soybean, cottonseed, and sunflower oil just to name a few. Omega-6 is also found in meat, poultry, fish and eggs in a much lesser amount. Is it healthy? Yes, if consumed in moderation. The crazy thing is that we consume approximately 25 times the amount of Omega-6 compared to Omega-3 fatty acids in our diet. That imbalance totally offsets any health benefits derived from Omega-6s. In fact, this overconsumption can cause inflammation in your body leading to much more serious health issues. (Inflammation means your immune system is working serious overtime which eventually will damage cells throughout your body). Again, check food labels of the processed foods your buying. Notice the amount of vegetable oils in your crackers, chips and baked goods as well as salad dressings and mayonnaise. It is mindboggling how much of it we consume. And remember how I talked about how efficient fat is at storing energy in your body? You are eating it in huge amounts, in wrong proportions which is detrimental to your heart health and also makes you gain weight.
Which brings us to the last piece of the puzzle, saturated fat. This one is probably the most debated, controversial member of the fat pack at the moment. Why? Because saturated fats were vilified for the last 50 years as the serial-killer of society, the primary cause of heart attacks in people. However, just in the last few years, this fat has found a new following. Research has found that saturated fats are not the culprit, in fact they may be healthier than we think. This theory has caused opposing camps such as mainstream health associations butting heads with cutting edge research scientists. The one that is left in the cold is you. If the experts can’t agree what is good for you, what are you supposed to do? Especially if you have just had a heart attack or have heart disease and are looking for the best approach to continue life.
Saturated fats tend to be solid at room temperature. It is found mostly in fatty meats, full fat dairy products, lard, as well as dark chocolate and coconut oil. In the mid 1970s it was assumed that saturated fats caused heart disease because they raised cholesterol levels in the blood. This was called the Diet-Heart-Hypothesis, but to this day, and billions of research-dollars later, that correlation has never been proven. We do know that saturated fats raise HDL (possibly the good guy) and also raise LDL(possibly the bad guy)…BUT research did also find that LDL wasn’t necessarily bad. I promised not to get tooooo technical, but this is important, because you won’t hear this fact from most nutritionists and definitely not from your cardiologist. There are different types of LDL. Small, dense particles that are very susceptible to getting oxidized causing heart disease and large, fluffy particles that are actually ‘good’ for you. Now research has shown that eating saturated fats changes the LDL particles from small, dense ones to large fluffy ones!!! In other words, saturated fats are not as harmful as previously believed. No research has ever been able to prove that it causes heart disease. Just like no firm evidence has found that a low fat diet reduces the risk of heart disease (but that topic opens another can of worms which I will discuss in a later article). In fact, since the low-fat craze that started in the mid 70s we have seen an explosive growth of obesity and type 2 diabetes in our population.
So should you jump on the bandwagon and go all-out on saturated fats, beef, bacon and lard …like many followers of the Keto and Paleo Diet are doing? Or should you follow ‘outdated’ guidelines of the health associations and heart councils of this fair land? Well, use your common sense and listen to your body.
I have experimented with intermittent Keto for the last five years and have felt great. Yes, my LDLs have gone up but so have my HDLs. I did notice that I felt more satiated after eating a high fat-low carb diet. But the biggest challenge with the Keto diet is that it’s very difficult to sustain as a lifestyle because of its limitations in food. Personally, I much prefer the Mediterranean way of living, incorporating lots of veggies, olive oil, coconut oil, some fatty fish and healthy grains, legumes like beans, lots of chia seeds and nuts as well as a great variety of fruit… I’m feeling great!
Consume lots of heart healthy fats like monounsaturated fats (olive oil, avocados, nuts, olives), eat lots fatty fish and walnuts to get your omegas-3s and be vigilant of too much vegetable oil (omega-6s) in your food. Eat saturated fats (coconut oil, meats and dairy products) in moderation and notice the effect it has on your health – how do you feel? Does it affect you in a positive way (good energy and positive mood) or in a negative way (lethargic and unfulfilled)? And please stay away from any products that contain Transfats. Shop in the fruit and vegetable departments of your grocery store and chose natural (not man-made) products along with unrefined carbs and healthy soluble fiber.
Here’s to your health!