Topic 2 – Fat – Part 2
As stated in Part 1 of this topic, nutritious dietary fat is vital for optimal human health. Optimal for the functioning of the energy systems, hormonal balance in every one of the body’s physiological systems, membrane structure of the cells of the human body, forms our brains and nervous systems, transport vital to health vitamins.
So what happens when we get too much? Don’t get them at all? Don’t get enough of them? Or the wrong balance of them?
Saturated fat is the big evil one we’ve all heard about, mainly it’s supposed well correlated link to cardiovascular disease. What being discovered now is balanced levels of saturated fat in the diet might not be the main culprit in this case, it might just be in the wrong place at the wrong time so to speak.
It’s been found that the problems associated with saturated fat might not necessarily because of the intake of the fat on its own, they are shown to be seen only when other poor dietary choices are there as well such as a high sugar and processed/refined carbohydrate and also if the intake of saturates is out of balance with unsaturated fats.
So don’t combine a diet high in saturated fat with one low in unsaturated fat, sugar and refined carbohydrates, which unfortunately matches most of our North American diets.
This is another reason why processed food is such a negative element in our diets for human health. Processed foods are mostly consisting of nutrients out of the natural balance that you’d normally find in unprocessed, whole organic foods that our bodies have evolved to function, survive, be healthy and thrive on for at least the past 400,000 years. So the modern, especially Western diet of refined, processed, fast, chemically grown and produced food is a little way ahead of our cell evolution for optimal human health, we need to slow down on this food revolution and go back to the old basics again, whole, unprocessed, organically not chemically grown.
Anyway, back to fat!
Unsaturated, (poly and monounsaturated), fats are termed healthy fats due to their beneficial effects on blood triglycerides and cholesterols, blood vessel health, cell inflammation and metabolism.
The balance of the fats is important between saturated and unsaturated, but also between the different unsaturated fats.
Humans evolved to consume diets abundant in Omega-6 and Omega-3 which results in a dietary intake of these essential fats of 1:1. 1 Omega-6 to 1 Omega-3, but in the general modern North American diet this ratio has shifted to 16/20:1, that’s 16-20 Omega-6’s to 1 Omega-3, completely out of balance for optimal human health. Westerners, especially American’s, have a high tissue concentration of Omega-6, estimated to be 8-12X optimal concentration, too much of a good thing! Due to the big switch of the last 40-50 years from animal fats to margarines and corn/soy oil making up the majority of the American fat intake, and on top of this corn/grain fed chicken and beef has risen sharply, in the fast food industry all of which have high Omega-6 contents over their grass fed naturally roaming cousins. Place on top of this the oil in which these meats are cooked in the US
What do these Omega’s 3 & 6 do?
OMEGA-6
Omega 6, the one that the typical Western diet consumes too much of, due to its high concentration in a lot of our food staples.
Omega-6 has a number of critical roles in the healthy human body. They promote blood vessel constriction, cell inflammation, pain, airway constriction, blood clotting, etc. all vital mechanisms in the human body for survival. But when too much is in the diet these mechanisms predominate or operate unchecked.
-Blood vessel constriction – increased blood pressure.
-Cell inflammation – long term linked to chronic disease and illness, Autoimmunity, autism, allergies, food allergies asthma, arthritis etc.
-Pain – chronic long term pain, fibromyalgia
-Airway constriction – asthma
-Blood clotting – slowed blood flow through the vessels possibly leading to increased plaque deposits on the inflamed cell, (above cell inflammation), walls of the blood vessels. These blocked or reduced blood flow due to excessive blood clotting can damage vital organs in the body. Heart attack risk, stroke risk, DVT risk.
So too much of a good thing isn’t a good thing, even though this is an essential fatty acid Omega-6, we get far to much of it on average for us to be optimally healthy humans.
OMEGA-3
Omega 3, this is the essential fat we tend not to get enough of in our diet, or if we do, it still tends to be out of the optimal 1-to-1 balance with Omega-6. The most beneficial sources for human health of Omega-3 are the EPA or DHA types, found in fish oils and algae (the original Omega-3 sources for fish). Omega-3 ALA is found in flax seed and walnuts. The human body converts ALA
Benefits of Omega-3 are that they help to keep our cells more “fluid” and permeable. This improves cell communication with hormones such as insulin and testosterone/estrogen, and nervous system chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine. They improve cardiovascular function, nervous system function and immune health.
Research is also showing a huge correlation between low DHA levels/intake and memory loss, concentration difficulties (ADHD?), Alzheimer’s and depression and mood instabilities.
Omega-3 also promotes blood vessel dilation (blood pressure reduction), anti-inflammatory effects on the cells, (reduced chronic disease and illness), blood anti-coagulant effects (reduced blood vessel blocking and slowing of blood flow), decreased pain (probably linked to less nervous system stress and less inflammation), and improved airway dilation.
So what do we take away from this?
Saturated fat is needed in the diet for optimal human health, but only saturated fat from whole, unprocessed, organically and grass fed grown and raised are optimal. It is essential that these saturated fats are ingested in balance with unsaturated fats (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated) and with a low/zero intake of refined sugars and refined processed foods.
If the intake of sugars and processed refined food is high, unsaturated fat intake is low, then, along with the saturated fat intake, this will have a detrimental impact on your health and quality of life.
Omega-6 and Omega-3 are both essential to optimal human health, but the typical American Western diet and nutritional intake is well over-saturated with the Omega-6 Fat leading to a possible pleathora health, fitness and wellness issues.
The Omega-6 to Omega-3 balance we need to be striving towards is closer to a 1-to-1 ratio, as apposed to the current average ratio of (OM-6) 16/20-to-1 (OM-3).
We can get Omega-3 from:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods-000140000000000000000.html
Next, part 3, we are going to go into that other mythical realm of cholesterol!!
The Good the Bad and the Ugly!
Until then, Be Active, Eat Whole & Unprocessed (what we evolved to eat over 400,000 years!), Choose Health!
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