Studies on Saturated Fat

There is so much mis-information out there on the subject of Saturated Fat and its relationship to poor health. When did the most natural fat on earth become the most dangerous in the last 100 years? Now reading this, do you all realize that we've been on this planet for quite a few more years than just 100? Think about it logically if you will. Michael Pollan of The Omnivores dilmena said in Food Inc. "The way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000". I often reflect on my childhood and try to count the amount of people I knew with thyroid disruption, gall bladder removal, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and the on slaught of auto-immune diseases out there. None of my grandparents took medications for cholesterol, in fact, I don't remember ever even discussing cholesterol as my Grandfather sat down to his bacon and german pancake breakfast! He lived well into his 90's by the way in quite excellent health. Fortunately, they did not discover spray butter until they were senior citizens.

So, getting back to fat....that macro-nutrient that apparently kills. Saturated fat has saved my life in so many ways. Focus, weight loss, improved blood work, satiety and so much more. I did my stint with McDougal, for a few weeks or so......until I felt the extreme hunger and the thought of gnawing my own arm off at several points sounded appetizing! Take fat away from a girl who has ADHD and absolutely no focus and you have a true recipe for disaster. I'm quite sure my neurotransmittors just became confused!

When advising my clients to increase their fat rather than reduce it, they are quite surprised. Now, we're not just talking any kind of fat, I"m talking about saturated fats from clean, animal proteins fed a species appropriate diet, raw butter and dairy, coconut and palm oils. These are the nurturing fats that will benefit you in the ways below:

You might see this repeated throughout my blog.......while it may seem redundant, redundancy I find assists the memory (as does coconut oil by the way)

Saturated fatty acids constitute at least 50 percent of your cell membranes. They are what gives your cells necessary stiffness and integrity.

They play a vital role in the health of your bones. For calcium to be effectively incorporated into your skeletal structure, at least 50 percent of your dietary fats should be saturated.

They lower Lp(a), a substance in your blood that indicates proneness to heart disease.

They protect your liver from alcohol and other toxins, such as Tylenol and other drugs.

They enhance your immune system.

They are needed for the proper utilization of essential fatty acids. Elongated omega-3 fats are better retained in your tissues when your diet is rich in saturated fats.

Saturated 18-carbon stearic acid and 16-carbon palmitic acid are the preferred foods for your heart, which is why the fat around your heart muscle is highly saturated. Your heart draws on this reserve of fat in times of stress.

Short- and medium-chain saturated fatty acids have important antimicrobial properties. They protect you against harmful microorganisms in your digestive tract.

Following is some great information on studies. Don't just believe me, check out the studies below!

A survey of 1700 patients with hardening of the arteries, conducted by the famous heart surgeon Michael DeBakey, found no relationship between the level of cholesterol in the blood and the incidence of atherosclerosis.

A survey of South Carolina adults found no correlation of blood cholesterol levels with "bad" dietary habits, such as use of red meat, animal fats, fried foods, butter, eggs, whole milk, bacon, sausage and cheese. A Medical Research Council survey showed that men eating butter ran half the risk of developing heart disease as those using margarine.

Mother's milk provides a higher proportion of cholesterol than almost any other food. It also contains over 50% of its calories as fat, much of it saturated fat. Both cholesterol and saturated fat are essential for growth in babies and children, especially the development of the brain. Yet, the American Heart Association is now recommending a low-cholesterol, lowfat diet for children! Commercial formulas are low in saturated fats and soy formulas are devoid of cholesterol. A recent study linked lowfat diets with failure to thrive in children.

Numerous surveys of traditional populations have yielded information that is an embarrassment to the Diet Dictocrats. For example, a study comparing Jews when they lived in Yemen, whose diets contained fats solely of animal origin, to Yemenite Jews living in Israel, whose diets contained margarine and vegetable oils, revealed little heart disease or diabetes in the former group but high levels of both diseases in the latter. (The study also noted that the Yemenite Jews consumed no sugar but those in Israel consumed sugar in amounts equaling 25-30% of total carbohydrate intake.)

A comparison of populations in northern and southern India revealed a similar pattern. People in northern India consume 17 times more animal fat but have an incidence of coronary heart disease seven times lower than people in southern India.

The Masai and kindred tribes of Africa subsist largely on milk, blood and beef. They are free from coronary heart disease and have excellent blood cholesterol levels.

Eskimos eat liberally of animal fats from fish and marine animals. On their native diet they are free of disease and exceptionally hardy.

An extensive study of diet and disease patterns in China found that the region in which the populace consumes large amounts of whole milk had half the rate of heart disease as several districts in which only small amounts of animal products are consumed.

Several Mediterranean societies have low rates of heart disease even though fat-including highly saturated fat from lamb, sausage and goat cheese-comprises up to 70% of their caloric intake. The inhabitants of Crete, for example, are remarkable for their good health and longevity.

A study of Puerto Ricans revealed that, although they consume large amounts of animal fat, they have a very low incidence of colon and breast cancer.

A study of the long-lived inhabitants of Soviet Georgia revealed that those who eat the most fatty meat live the longest.

In Okinawa, where the average life span for women is 84 years-longer than in Japan-the inhabitants eat generous amounts of pork and seafood and do all their cooking in lard.

None of these studies is mentioned by those urging restriction of saturated fats.
The relative good health of the Japanese, who have the longest life span of any nation in the world, is generally attributed to a lowfat diet. Although the Japanese eat few dairy fats, the notion that their diet is low in fat is a myth; rather, it contains moderate amounts of animal fats from eggs, pork, chicken, beef, seafood and organ meats. With their fondness for shellfish and fish broth, eaten on a daily basis, the Japanese probably consume more cholesterol than most Americans. (Interestingly enough, Japanese men smoke heavily)

What they do not consume is a lot of vegetable oil, white flour or processed food (although they do eat white rice.) The life span of the Japanese has increased since World War II with an increase in animal fat and protein in the diet.

Those who point to Japanese statistics to promote the lowfat diet fail to mention that the Swiss live almost as long on one of the fattiest diets in the world. Tied for third in the longevity stakes are Austria and Greece-both with high-fat diets.

As a final example, let us consider the French. Anyone who has eaten his way across France has observed that the French diet is just loaded with saturated fats in the form of butter, eggs, cheese, cream, liver, meats and rich patés. Yet the French have a lower rate of coronary heart disease than many other western countries.

In the United States, 315 of every 100,000 middle-aged men die of heart attacks each year; in France the rate is 145 per 100,000. In the Gascony region, where goose and duck liver form a staple of the diet, this rate is a remarkably low 80 per 100,000.

This phenomenon has recently gained international attention as the French Paradox. (The French do suffer from many degenerative diseases, however. They eat large amounts of sugar and white flour and in recent years have succumbed to the timesaving temptations of processed foods.)

A chorus of establishment voices, including the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute and the Senate Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, claims that animal fat is linked not only with heart disease but also with cancers of various types. Yet when researchers from the University of Maryland analyzed the data they used to make such claims, they found that vegetable fat consumption was correlated with cancer and animal fat was not.

So, what does the above tell us? In my opinion, I believe we need more studies. We need to see a study of peoples currently practicing that of more traditional diets and monitor their health through that of blood work for a 10 or more year period. I once watched a great interview with Mary Enig, Phd., when asked why she or anyone else hasn't conducted such a study? Her words "No special interest groups in the field of health and natural food" Yes, it's SAD and when I say SAD, I mean that's our Standard American Diet.

Weight Loss, Type 2 Diabetes, and the Importance of a Diet That "Fits"

Researchers get caught up in this issue as well, particularly when it comes to chronic disease situations like obesity and type 2 diabetes. Many different approaches to diet can help us lose weight-at least in the short-term. But in type 2 diabetes, there is also a need to improve insulin metabolism and blood sugar levels.

Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in the Bronx, NY put two very different diet approaches to the test in their study of 105 obese adults, mostly Hispanic and African-American, who were on medication for their type 2 diabetes. Half of the participants in this study followed a very low carbohydrate diet, based upon the Atkins diet. (In this diet, the participants were allowed only 20-25 grams of carbohydrate per day during the first 2 weeks. After that time, they were allowed to increase their carbs each week by a total of 5 grams.) The other group of participants followed a low-fat diet in which a maximum of 25% total calories were allowed from fat. (For example, if a participant were allowed to eat 1,600 calories of food, 44 grams of fat could come from fat. That amount is the same as 2 tablespoons of olive oil plus 1 ounce of walnuts.) Over the course of one year, all participants received regular nutritional counseling and assistance following their diet plans.

The results of this study were extremely interesting. Overall, participants in both groups lost weight over the 12-month study period. Their average weight loss was approximately 7 pounds, or 3.5% of their initial body weight. However, the low-carb group lost weight rapidly in the first three months (for a total of about 11 pounds) and then regained weight very slowly (at about one-half pound per month) over the rest of the study period. The low-fat group lost weight more slowly over the first three months (for a total of about 7.5 pounds), and then plateaued and just stopped losing weight. Neither group significantly improved their blood sugar levels (as determined by lab work measuring their hemoglobin A1C). In their discussion of the blood sugar results, the researchers noted that in previous studies, a total weight loss of about 10-15 pounds was required before significant changes could be observed in hemoglobin A1C levels.

The research team in this study concluded that very low carbohydrate and low fat diets could be helpful to obese individuals with type 2 diabetes who were trying to lose weight and control their blood sugars, but that the helpfulness of these diets might be limited unless practical aspects of the diets were made very familiar to the participants and could be followed closely for an extended period of time. In other words, they recognized the fact that very low carb diets and low fat diets can be very challenging to follow, and while potentially helpful might not turn out to be as helpful as expected due to practical difficulties in adherence.

We definitely agree that very low carb diets and low fat diets can present real difficulties as long-term, everyday approaches to eating. A daily intake of 20-25 grams of carbohydrate is a very unnatural food balance, which makes it impossible to enjoy fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. Additionally, 25% fat is likely to be a level that many people find unnaturally restrictive. If you use up 33% of your day's fat with one tablespoon of olive oil, your options with nuts, seeds, and cold-water fish become pretty limited.

So we would go one step further than these researchers in our interpretation of the study results. We would conclude that very low carb and low-fat diet approaches are probably not helpful to most individuals because they create a diet context that is just too unnatural. Most people are unlikely to stick with any diet that feels too unnatural, regardless of the diet. The world of food is diverse and rich in foods of all flavors and textures, and a diet needs to contain enough nutritional room for us to enjoy all of them!

From a long-term perspective, the only approach that makes sense to us is one that allows for complete individualization of a diet in a way that feels natural to the person following it. In most cases, that kind of individualization will mean more room for high-quality carbs and high-quality fats than was allowed in either of the diets featured in this study.

Misty Notes: This article came from whfoods.org a fabulous web site that provides information and recipes on whole foods. I would like to add that in working with folks with type 2 diabetes, a higher fat much lower carbohydrate level normalized A1C levels more quickly than my clients following a moderate carbohydrate diet. Unfortunately, unless Mary Enig is heading the study, we will not see fair and balanced studies with saturated fat and its positive effect on the healing of the cell wall. Our cells are lined with more than 55% saturated fat. When a diet is predominately polyunsaturated, you then have a compromised, floppy cell wall that is prone to damage and disruption. Unfortunately, the pull to lower fat is dogma though not scientifically sound advice to the detroment of the consumer and profit to soy as usual.

When faced with a potentially harmful degenerative disease, we must put aside our immature "taste bud choices" and work on healing our bodies. This can work two fold! You can heal your cells if you're not supplementing insulin and enjoy tasteful full fat foods at the same time. If you're a type 2 diabetic, your days of fun in the chip bag are over! You have two choices, chips or life! You won't look very attractive with bandaged feet, swollen ankles and rolling around in a wheelchair with that bag of chips in your lap!

Put the processed snack foods away and begin nourishing your body as it was intended! Feeling lean, young and vibrant far outweighs that of any snack!

Flawed Study: Lots of red meat increases mortality risk

The study below is a perfect example of the 30 second sound bytes I speak of constantly. I am infuriated with this particular study. It is flawed, inaccurate and misleading to the general public. Red meat provides us with iron, zinc, B12, B6 and a host of other health promoting heart saving nutrients. The flaw in the study? First, processed meats should never be compared to whole unprocessed animal proteins. This is contradictory to a natural diet. Most importantly, what were the other factors? It is my experience that many in these AARP groups dine out frequently exposing themselves to unhealthy polyunsaturated vegetable oils, indulge in dessert items frequently which in turn elevate blood sugar and triglycerides and unknowingly also consume trans saturated fatty acids. What kind of blood tests were performed during these studies? Were the subjects consuming factory farmed beef with added hormones and antibiotics? Of course they were.

I would consume red meat daily and feel comfortable as long as all of my other factors were in place. In other words, consuming 100% natural grass fed beef is as healthy as consuming salmon daily. Why? Well, grass fed beef contains omega 3 fatty acids while factory farmed beef is 100% omega 6. The abundance of omega 6 fatty acids in the Standard American Diet are the direct cause of inflammation that leads to heart disease and cancers.

That's my "beef" with this study. What omega 3 fatty acids are you consuming?

By CARLA K. JOHNSON, AP Medical Writer - Mon Mar 23, 9:15 PM PDT
CHICAGO - The largest study of its kind finds that older Americans who eat large amounts of red meat and processed meats face a greater risk of death from heart disease and cancer. The federal study of more than half a million men and women bolsters prior evidence of the health risks of diets laden with red meat like hamburger and processed meats like hot dogs, bacon and cold cuts.

Calling the increased risk modest, lead author Rashmi Sinha of the National Cancer Institute said the findings support the advice of several health groups to limit red and processed meat intake to decrease cancer risk. Misty notes: grouping the two together is not a balanced assesment.

The findings appear in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.

Over 10 years, eating the equivalent of a quarter-pound hamburger daily gave men in the study a 22 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 27 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease. That's compared to those who ate the least red meat, just 5 ounces per week.

Women who ate large amounts of red meat had a 20 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 50 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease than women who ate less.

For processed meats, the increased risks for large quantities were slightly lower overall than for red meat. The researchers compared deaths in the people with the highest intakes to deaths in people with the lowest to calculate the increased risk.
People whose diets contained more white meat like chicken and fish had lower risks of death.

The researchers surveyed more than 545,000 people, ages 50 to 71 years old, on their eating habits, then followed them for 10 years. There were more than 70,000 deaths during that time.
Study subjects were recruited from AARP members, a group that's healthier than other similarly aged Americans. That means the findings may not apply to all groups, Sinha said. The study relied on people's memory of what they ate, which can be faulty.

In the analysis, the researchers took into account other risk factors such as smoking, family history of cancer and high body mass index.

In an accompanying editorial, Barry Popkin, director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, wrote that reducing meat intake would have benefits beyond improved health.

Livestock increase greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming, he wrote, and nations should reevaluate farm subsidies that distort prices and encourage meat-based diets. Misty Notes: Sustainable farming is our solution. Consuming grass fed beef is our superior choice for our bodies and the environment.

"We've promoted a diet that has added excessively to global warming," Popkin said in an interview. Misty Notes: This is factory farming at work.

Successfully shifting away from red meat can be as easy as increasing fruits and vegetables in the diet, said Elisabetta Politi of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, N.C. Misty Notes: As long as one is not insulin resistant, low glycemic fruits are recommended.

"I'm not saying everybody should turn into vegetarians," Politi said. "Meat should be a supporting actor on the plate, not the main character." Misty Notes: Studies indicate those who consume moderate amount of "clean and natural" animal proteins live 6 years longer than vegetarians.

The National Pork Board and National Cattlemen's Beef Association questioned the findings.

Dietitian Ceci Snyder said in a statement for the pork board that the study "attempts to indict all red meat consumption by looking at extremes in meat consumption, as opposed to what most Americans eat."

Lean meat as part of a balanced diet can prevent chronic disease, along with exercise and avoiding smoking, said Shalene McNeill, dietitian for the beef group. Misty Notes: Grass fed beef is leaner beef. Remember, corn fattens all of us!
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For clean sources of meats, go to http://www.eatwild.com/ for a sustainable farm near you! If you're in the Sonoma County area, I purchase my grass fed ground beef at Andy's Produce. Eel River 100% grass fed and the taste is wonderful. Do your body good, eat sustainable beef a few times a week! I'd avoid the tuna!