repoman

I have been reading quite a lot about nutrition recently (50+ hours in the last 3 weeks) prompted by seeing the Perricone Prescription on PBS.

I have been focusing mostly on the fat groups. I bought "Fats hat heal, fats that kill" by Udo Erasmus, which is fairly good, but not as good as it first looked (too much rambling and repetition). I also went to Mercola.com and Nutrition.org for much more info.

Now obviously there is more to diet than than eating the right fats, but one thing at a time.

At first thought it seems rather silly to care about which fats to ingest, they are all bad, right? However, the wrong ratios seem to truly cause harm. I'll start with a list of Satrated fats and there sources and effects, then follow with the unsaturated ones. Finally, i'll roughly repeat the ratios I've read that "seem" to be healthy to consume. I hope some of you guys have some good knowledge of the subject, cause I want to get the best info.

SATURATED FATS

chemically stable

short chain C4 (four carbons)- butyric acid - helpful for colon cells, gives butter its smell

Medium chain C6-C12- easily used as fuel, hard to deposit as body fat. Also disrupt cell walls of harmful bacteria, fungi and virii killing them. Coconut meat, Palm kernel and coconut oil are very rich sources.

Long chain C14-24 - fuel, cell membranes (usually 2/3 of a triglyceride), too much make membranes too stiff. Sources are animal fats and vegetable oils and EXCESS SUGAR turned into fat (only this kind of fat!)

MONOUNSATURATED FATS
Found in seed oils and olive oil. medium stable, fluid in the blood yet having a good shelf life. Also virgin olive oil is little processed.
{a funny aside, Santini's became half soild in the fridge, while bertolli's was still very fluid - very curious}


POLYUNSATURATED FATS

(essential fatty acids- EFAs, body lacks enzyme to make them)

OMEGA-6 fatty acids most common EFAs- the basic one is linoleic acid found in high quantity in suhflower, safflower, corn and soybean oil. They are unstable, the double bonds are broken down by lght hear and oxygen. they are preserrved by antioxidants such as Vitamin E. It is claimed that most of these oils are overheated, denatured (many double bonds broken or sitched) and stripped of nutrients. Also soybean and corn oil can't be made without these prcedures.

However, good quality Linoleic acid (LA) is very useful, it helps in many cellular functions where its double bonds make a difference, such as being docks for membrane proteins. Also a precursor to prostaglandins (PGE) which increase or decrease inflammation, plaetelet stickiness, urine flow and nerve function. LA becomes PGE1 (good) and PGE2 (bad). between LA and PGE2 is Arachidonic acid (AA) found in meat. Interestingly, PGE1 inhibits the release of AA thereby reducing PGE2.


OMEGA-3 fatty acids are found in flaxseed, hempseed, chia seed and canola oil (rapeseed) in the short chain - Linolenic acid, LNA. The long chain omega-3s (DHA and EPA) are found in cold water fish oils which get it from eating cold water plants and algae. EPA and DHA also can be made from LNA, but not very efficiently.

LNA and LA reduce the risk of heart disease and lowers cholesterols in the blood stream compared to other fats. This is partly because cell membranes become fluid with LNA and LA and need cholesterol to have the required stiffness, which it takes from the blood.

The higher chain omea-3s, EPA and DHA, are extremely important but it actually took me a while to find all the major reasons (The internet can be such a pain!).

First off, about 20% of the dry weight of the brain is DHA. a good supply and/or production of DHA is very crucial until 3 years of age. Bottle fed infants later score abouh 6-10 points lower on IQ tests than breastfed. But until 1 1/2 years ago it was not allowed to be in American baby formula. The infant had to convert all the LNA to DHA, which is not very fast.

EPA is also for brain function. One researcher, Ralph T. Holman (google him), has said that DHA is structure and EPA is function. Recent pilot studies have shown that large doses of EPA greatly decrease symptoms of depression and to a lesser extent those of schzophrenia and ADHD. This takes just a few weeks, and it seems to be a simple reversing of the effects of the imbalanced American diet.

The body converts both the omega3s and 6s to longer chain and more unsaturated fatty acids (i.e. EPA and DHA and GLA) by using the same elongase and desaturase enzymes. So if you eat too much corn, soybean, safflower oil etc the production rate of EPA and DHA from LNA can drop in half. the ratio should not be above 4:1 omega 6 to omega 3. However in many people the ratio can be 10:1, 20:1 or even higher! This can lead to very low levels of EPA and DHA in people. I am not exactly sure how this relates to mental function in a statistical sense as far as relative contribution, this field is fairly new but is promising IMO.

TRANSFATTY ACIDS
well obviously they aren't good. They increase 'bad' LDL and decrease 'good' HDL chloesterol, and increase free radical oxidation. they also make cell membranes to stiff and lower EPA and DHA production.


Damn, before I crash I'll give a list of researcher to look up on google etc...to tired to do more now

Mary Enig (also Amazon.com)
Udo Erasmus
Andrew Stoll
Ralph T Holman
BK Puri
AJ Richardson
David F. Horrobin link below http://weeksmd.com/articles/psychiat...atty_Acids.pdf (I don't like weeksmd much)

http://www.mercola.com he is mostly good, sometimes a bit odd though

http://www.nutrition.org/searchall/ powerful tool cutting through commercial sites.

Jackalope

Let me add to this some:
Coconut oil and palm oil are unfortunately the types of fats that will clog your arteries. So don't overdo them. In small amounts, they're fine and can even be beneficial.

Trying to use omega-3 fatty acids only really works if you're very careful about your intake of omega-6 fatty acids and saturated fats. Otherwise, you end up with too much PGE-2.

Another really good source of gammalinoleic acid is borrage seed oil. It actually has a higher GLA content than evening primrose oil, and it tends to be more cost-effective. Another source would be black current oil. All three are pretty good at cutting down on PGE-2 production. When applied topically, borrage seed oil has anti-inflammitory properties that sometimes help acne, psoriasis and discoid lupus (saved me from getting more scarred lesions). Doesn't work for everyone, but it's certainly safer than cortisone-based creams if you have to use them long-term.

--Lee

Another

You have a great deal of data allready, but desire information which I am not sure is known.

As a physician and son of someone who has had a coronary artery bypass times five before age 60, the reasons why people want to know what and how much of which fats to eat or avoid are clear to me. It is also not too difficult to propose theories on why some fats are "good" and some are "bad" based on presumed pathogenic processes at the molecular level.

Unfortunately, as has been seen with anti-oxidants, as well as other entities, it is clear that everything that "seems like it should be so" isn't necessarily so. That's why we do science - to find out. The unfortunate reality is that information based on longitudinal demographic studies accumulates slowly.

Eat a healthy balanced diet. Exercise for 30-40 min at least 3/wk, get married and check you cholesterol. Avoid high risk activities (fast or reckless cars, guns, suicide attempts). Don't smoke. After 50 screen your colon.

Little else will improve the male life span.


Cheers

repoman

Thanks Jackalope about the info on GLA, I'll research it prettty soon. It is hard thogh to cut back on omega-6when I have 2 bottles of canola oil. At least it isn't soybean oil. But how do satuarted fats increase PGE-2 levels?

Haha, just found the answer -- GLA production from LA is slowed from among things by "excess saturated and monounsaturated long-chain fatty acidswhich together constitute 85 to 93% of all fatty acids in Western diets." (I am assuming thi s is direct emzyme copetition Now GLA makes "good" PGE1 which limits the release of bad PGE2. PGE2 is made from Arachidonic acid (AA) which can be made from GLA in our bodies or from meat eggs and dairy. Are there well done studies showing that eating low LA, GLA and high AA diets cause more inflammation? (might look it up myself) I need a good study before I consider stopping eating ice cream



I wasn't suggesting that one eat lots of coconut (flakes or oil) all the time, but to instead substitute it for other fats that are thick, like maragarine and shortening. The transfatty acids consumed large amounts in cookies, muffins, pie crusts etc...are dangerous and these foods would be safer with tropical oils, milkfat or beef fat. Of course this doesn't mean you should eat more then. I am just saying every little change helps.

Here is a good article: http://www.mercola.com/2001/jul/28/coconut_health.htm

And if one is concerned about saturated fat they need to seriously lower the excess carbs they eat in typical meals. The sugars if in excess convert to fats with are mostly saturated with some monounsaturated. They are never converted to omega-3 or omega-6 fatty acids, because we lack the enzymes. This doesn't even take into account the damage done by the excessive inuslin/glucagon rollercoaster of sugar storage/release.

scombrid

relavent annecdote:

This past spring I was talking to the Chief of the Mattaponi Indian Tribe. Their diet includes a lot of shad roe (fish eggs). Some of the older tribesmen swear that the roe upsets their gout and they have to cut their intake to one serving per week. The shad flesh is extremely rich in omega3s but, unfortunately, they preserve most of the flesh by pickling it in brine.

sourdough

I've read somewhere that hydrogenated fats,such as used in margarine and peanut butter are the most unhealthy ones.