Fats: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
An introduction to fats
Cholesterol, heart disease and weight gain are just a few of the many reasons why people fear dietary fat so much. From teenagers to the elderly, every single person at some point in their life becomes concerned with their diet and eating habits. Between 1.25 and 3.4 million people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder. Whether the cause is due to health or bodily image, or a combination of both - it’s a topic affecting many. However, are our fears about dietary fat warranted? Or are there certain fats which are misunderstood or worse, demonised? There are different types of fats, some of which have a positive impact on health. In this blog, we will break down the different types of fats, their role in the body and how they impact our health.
Dietary fat and Systematic Kinesiology
You may be wondering why a Kinesiologist from Falmouth, Cornwall is so interested in diet and fats and how what we eat is even related to Systematic Kinesiology. The answer is simple, one word can sum it up: ‘health’. Systematic Kinesiology opens the door for everyone (whether a client or a practitioner) to lead a healthier, happier lifestyle. It is a form of holistic therapy that uses muscle testing to locate imbalances that may be causing dis-ease in the body, and restore the body to balance. What is one of the biggest contributors to our body’s imbalances? Food and drink. The World Health Organisation reports that an unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity are leading risks to health. This is why it is of paramount importance to properly understand dietary fats and their effect on the body.
What role does fat play in our body?
There are many important roles that fat plays in our bodies, below are a few examples:
Digestion:
In the present day, eating has become a social activity. People go out to eat to see friends, take photos and share them on social media. #Food, #foodporn #instafood and #yummy are amongst the 100 most popular Instagram hashtags which appear daily. With food being such a leisure activity, we have almost forgotten the main reason why we eat and drink every day. That reason is to nourish our bodies. We eat to consume the vitamins and nutrients that we need to live long, prosperous, healthy lives. Fat plays a vital role in our digestion of these vitamins and nutrients.
When we eat, there are 2 main ways in which the vitamins in the food are absorbed into the body: water-soluble and fat-soluble.
Water-soluble: vitamins dissolve in water and excess amounts are excreted in the urine. An example of water-soluble vitamins is Vitamin C and Vitamin B. See below for a list of what they are responsible for:
Vitamin C: formation of collagen, absorption of iron, immune system, wound healing
Vitamin B: energy booster, helps convert food into energy, proper growth and development
Fat-soluble: these vitamins tend to be stored in the liver and fatty tissues. To be able to be absorbed into the body correctly they need to dissolve in fat. An example of fat-soluble vitamins are A, D, E and K, see below for a list of what they are responsible for:
Vitamin A: vision, reproduction, bone health, immune system, skin
Vitamin D: strengthens bones, calcium absorption, immune system
Vitamin E: immune system, flushing of toxins
Vitamin K: blood clotting, bone health
Consequently, fat is a required component to absorb the necessary vitamins and nutrients we need to survive.
Fat and the brain
Did you know that our brains are approximately 60% fat? The brain accounts for just 2% of the body’s total weight but contains 20% of the body’s cholesterol. Being made mostly from fat, the brain needs fat to thrive and work properly. In addition, Myelin is a protective coating surrounding our neurons, responsible for increasing our brain processing speed. It is also made from cholesterol and protein. Therefore, fat is a required component for our brains and neurons to work at their optimum.
Fat and the production of hormones
In addition to digestion and brain health, fat also plays an important role in the production of a hormone called pregnenolone. Pregnenolone is the mother hormone from which all other hormones are derived. Pregnenolone is naturally produced in the body by the adrenal gland, is made from cholesterol, and is the starting material in the production of testosterone, progesterone, cortisol, estrogen and other hormones.
Looking at the 3 reasons listed above, it is clear why fat plays such an important role in optimal health. Yet dietary fat is feared by all, with most people wanting to lose weight or attempt to live healthier lives opting to remove fat from their diets as much as possible.
Fat and the risk of dementia
In 2004 Mayo Clinic conducted a study looking at the effect of different proportionate macronutrient diets and their impact on brain health. They took a group of elderly people (937 participants) with a median age of 79 and followed their diets for an average of 3.7 years. The aim was to see if the risk of dementia increased, depending on the intake of different food groups: carbohydrates, fats and proteins. The findings saw that the group more likely to develop dementia were the group that ate a higher content of carbohydrates over fats and protein. This study suggests that dietary fats are important and sometimes misunderstood. There are some fats which may be feared unnecessarily.
What are the different types of fats we ingest?
The fats we ingest can be categorised into 2 general types: Saturated fats and Unsaturated fats.
Saturated fats - mostly found in animal products such as beef, pork, poultry, and eggs as well as butter and coconut oil.
Unsaturated fats - can be broken down further into 3 types:
Monounsaturated - mostly found in olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, avocados and a variety of nuts and seeds.
Polyunsaturated - comes in the form of omega 3 and 6. Foods rich in omega-3 are flaxseeds, walnuts, salmon and tuna. Foods rich in omega-6 are grain-fed beef, vegetable oils and fried foods.
Omega 3 and 6 are seen as essential because the human body cannot make them by itself, so they need to be consumed. Research suggests that omega 3 has an anti-inflammatory effect on the body, whilst omega 6 has an inflammatory effect. Consequently, the ratio between omega 3 and 6 is important to balance inflammatory and anti-inflammatory conditions. A ratio of 4-1 omega 6 to omega 3 or lower has been shown to decrease inflammation and lower the risk of diseases. Interestingly, the current average ratio in America sits at 16-1. Showing just how out of balance the western world is in terms of healthy fat consumption.
Trans fats - can be broken down further into 2 types:
Natural - found in dairy products (around 2-5% of the total fat) and beef and lamb (around 3-9% of total fat).
Artificial - found in margarine, fast food items, frozen pizzas, and coffee creamers.
Artificial fats are when vegetable oil is turned into solids, thus increasing the shelf life of products. The process for this to happen is called hydrogenation. As mentioned above, they can be found in most fast food items, frozen pizzas, fried foods and margarine. Artificial trans fats are very toxic and have been banned in several countries, but are still legal here in the UK. They should be avoided as much as possible; with many studies suggesting they increase the risk of heart disease and also cause damage to the inner lining of blood vessels. Want to try and avoid artificial trans fats? When reading the ingredients list for products, you can check for “partially hydrogenated oils''.
With the above information in mind, it is not surprising that artificial trans fats are bad for the body and should be avoided at all costs. However, healthcare professionals and researchers often refer to saturated fats as “bad” fats too and group them with trans fat even though evidence on the health effects of saturated fat intake is far from conclusive.
Why did we all of a sudden start to fear saturated fat?
In 1955 the US president Dwight Eisenhower had a heart attack and heart attacks were on the rise in middle aged americans. There was mounting pressure from the population to find out what was causing this unprecedented rise. A physiologist, Ancel Keys, with a PhD from Cambridge University came up with a theory. He presented his “diet heart” 7 country hypothesis study to Paul Dudley, a founder member of the AHA (American Heart Association). The study claimed to show a clear association between countries that ate a high amount of saturated fat and deaths from heart disease. However, there is a slight problem, Ancel Keys had cherry-picked his data in order to prove his hypothesis. He left out data from 15 other countries, most noticeably the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. These places are known to consume high amounts of saturated fats from animal products but had no increase in the number of deaths from heart disease.
In 1961 Keys’ “diet heart” model was made an official policy by the AHA and by 1977 more than 200 million Americans were being encouraged to eat a low-fat diet, resulting in saturated fats being avoided by the masses. However, unfortunately, the evidence used to make this policy was far from conclusive. This subject does not have clear-cut answers and there’s no conclusive evidence to suggest that saturated fat alone is to blame for heart disease.
What is interesting is that in 1948 the AHA became a powerhouse in America, seemingly overnight. They were given today's equivalent of $17 million by Proctor and Gamble, thus catapulting them into power. Why did Proctor and Gamble give this money to the AHA? One can only speculate. One theory is that P&G produces Crisco; a vegetable oil which was then being encouraged as a heart-friendly alternative to saturated fats.
Have saturated fats had an unfair reputation over the years? Were they demonised unfairly based on a limited study? Please do your own research so that you are able to come to your own informed conclusions.
Looking closer at vegetable and seed oils
Most mainstream health professionals consider vegetable and seed oils to be healthy. The reason is that vegetable oils are low in saturated fat and so are thought to reduce heart disease. However, as explored above the benefits of reduced saturated fat intake are controversial. In recent years some organisations (including the likes of Healthline.com) have carried out their own research to see whether vegetable oils are healthy or not. Vegetable and seed oils are made from seeds and beans which, when pressed, do not release their natural oils (unlike olive oil or avocado oil). In order to turn these seeds and beans into oils they need to go through up to 17 different processing steps. Some of these steps include bleaching to make the oil a clearer colour and also washing with solvents, such as hexane which is incredibly toxic, in order to extract as much oil as possible, you can watch a video of this process here. Vegetable oils are also high in omega-6, which as mentioned above is the inflammatory omega, which has been linked to a rise in heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, cancer and more.
When looking to purchase oils it is always best to go for organic, cold-pressed items. The heating process in oil manufacturing can cause molecular changes resulting in oxidative stress in the body, something we want to avoid. For more information on vegetable oils here is a 4 part series I found very informative.
Summary
Saturated fats have been viewed as unhealthy for years. Yet, current research supports that some saturated fats can be included as part of a health-promoting, well-balanced diet. There are always arguments for and against particular diets, but I believe it is important to remember that we are all unique. What is right for one person isn’t necessarily right for another. Systematic Kinesiology allows us to test different products and foods on individuals to ask the body what it needs. If you are unsure of whether a certain oil you’re cooking with is healthy, we can test it. If you are unsure if a particular food is agreeing with you, we can check. Systematic Kinesiology allows your body to do the talking and tell you exactly what you need to live a healthier, happier life.
