Well Hello again my Caffeinated Cavemen (or Cavewomen), let's jump straight into a rather juicy and might I say delicious topic, that most people have been bamboozled by the "Experts" about since early on in the 1900's: Saturated Fat. We are not just going to look at the supposedly evil yet complete delicious Saturated Fat but also its effects (or lack thereof) on Cholesterol and it's link (or once again lack thereof) to CVD and CHD. And towards the end (and maybe throughout the middle who knows my brain's thought process is wired differently) we will discuss what I have found in my research on the topic to be the real culprit of all things Cardiovascularly condemning.
Let's begin at the beginning, when did Saturated Fat, which was a great source of energy and nutrients for our ancestors, turn against us and start trying to destroy Human-kind like they were delicious morsels of Cylons (yes that's a Battlestar Gallactica Reference). Where did this unwarranted fear come from? I mean if our ancestors ate it for the vast majority of human existence, and through anthropological studies show almost non-existent level of CVD and CHD (of which SAFA is suppose to be a main cause), why all of the sudden in the early to mid 1900's did this Fatty acid start to kill us? The answer- Poor Science, Ego, and Greed. A guy by the name Dr. Ancel Keys performed a study and did what those in the Nerd Dimension (ha) call Cherry Picking Data. He had 22 observable countries in which most of them showed no connection to fat consumption and CHD or CVD but Cherry Picked the six countries that supported his hypothesis. Here is a clip from a movie called, "Big Fat Lies" that kind of explains the error of Dr. Keys ways. But enough of why we are scared of SAFA lets starts talking about why we shouldn't be afraid of them and even why we should think about eating them more often.
It has been shown that yes SAFA do tend to raise LDL (Low Density Lipoproteins) particles in our blood. LDL particles have long been dubbed the Bad Boy (or Girl) of cholesterol, and that it causes all kinds of nasty plaque to build up in our arterial lining and take us down like Brian Urlacher hitting a 3rd grader. Well that's a partial truth, but also so far from the whole truth that that partial truth has to pay outrages long distance rates to get a hold of the whole truth. What has been discovered is that there isn't just one type of LDL particle, there is actually a couple different forms of it: Small and Dense- Large and Fluffy. Now the nasty kind of LDL that that partial truth is taking about is Small and Dense particles of LDL, which are really easy to oxidize and wreck havoc on our systems. The Large and Fluffy versions of LDL are almost impossible to oxidize and pose no threat to our heart health and in fact probably help improve it. So if the vast majority of your LDL count is of the large and fluffy variety even with slightly elevated LDL levels your risk for CVD or CHD is greatly diminished. Here's the crazy thing, SAFA have been shown to have a greater effect of the production of HDL (High Density Lipoprotein- the "good" cholesterol), which in turn decreases your risk for CHD or CVD. Why? Well think of it think way, imagine LDL particles (or at least the Small Dense ones) as messy children leaving behind messes where ever they go. Now think of HDL as a house keeper, following behind those messy children and cleaning up whatever they put down. Now if you have a balanced ratio of Housekeepers to messy children your arteries stay clean and health. On the flip side, if all you have are Clean well behaved children (Large Fluffy LDL) there's virtually no mess for the housekeepers to pick. And no I wasn't large and fluffy as a kid I was the small dense LDL particle that gave my parents heart attacks at every chance I got, Sorry Mom and Dad! So now you may be asking what this has to do with SAFA, well I'll tell you- Nothing.
Here's what I mean, where dietary SAFA have an effect of production rates of LDL particle they have very little influence on the kind produced, if you follow me. In fact most of your blood serum cholesterol is produced in house by the liver. Now lets look at what does effect the quality of LDL particles in your blood. Can anyone guess what it is? That's right Vegans, wait no that's not right, what I meant to say was elevated blood glucose levels, but both cause a lot of problems so you can see where I got mixed up. Elevated glucose levels cause our body to have to produce excess insulin to deal with the large amounts of glucose in our blood, which then sends it to our liver, which converts it to triglycerides to be stored. This in turn raises the level of triglycerides in our blood. Now this is where elevated levels of glucose cause the problem. Think of triglycerides as the bad influence that all the after school specials warned you about, that are trying to get you to smoke, and make you small and dense. That is the effect it has on our LDL quality and its very persuasive, it's like the Sean Connery of Fats. So remember those studies that showed SAFA caused an increase in CVD or CHDSAFA increase overall production of LDL (and HDL don't forget that), and increased carbohydrate intake is making these particles small and dense causing an increase in the percentage of the LDL particle produced to be small-dense and easily oxidizable, and then silly single minded government controlled "scientist" are misinterpreting the data and pointing there finger at the wrong culprit. With out the over-consumption of carbs, SAFA cause increased production of the good kind of LDL's which cause no real threat to your heart health and are actually a great source of energy for our bodies.
With all that being said in favor of SAFAs, should they be the only fat you eat, No. Can the be the majority of the fat that you eat, they are for me. However, I have always been a great proponent of variety. Getting Monounsaturated Fats in higher amount is a good thing too, mighty yummy, and have benefits that eating SAFA don't. The only kind of fats that I would try to get as little as possible are polyunsaturated fats from vegetable sources, especially if you are cooking with them because these are the ones that can cause huge problems in our body, but that topic is for a different time. And yes these are the ones that the government says we should eat more of, and they are once again wrong.
The final thing I will touch on in this post is SAFA's effect on insulin sensitivity. I have scoured the interweb, looking at studies on this topic, and none that I found showed any statistically significant data that would make me believe that SAFA have any effect on insulin sensitivity. Now I'm not saying there are not any well performed studies out there that support this theory, what I am saying is that I couldn't find them, so in my personal opinion, until proven wrong, I am on SAFA's side on this one. I don't think it has any effect on insulin sensitivity. But if you find a study proving me wrong on this topic please shoot it my way because I would love to read it.
Here are some of the articles I read in preparation for writing this post, check them out and enjoy learning. And as always follow the advice of Levar Burton: "Don't take my word for it." Check it out yourself
