Nutrition 101

Please, tell me where this falls down. I'm genuinely looking for a key flaw that I can't find.


Okay so there's a whole load of bad press surrounding saturated fat and cholesterol. It is claimed that they're the cause of various issues including heart disease, strokes and obesity. This might sound like some crack-pot conspiracy theory at times but bear with me.

Righteo,
Just in case anybody is unsure, saturated fat is basically the solid stuff - the fatty part of a steak is largely saturated fat, as is lard. Also, cholesterol is a tiny biomolecule involved in several super-duper important processes such as the formation of certain hormones and of vitamin D. It is found most prominently in foods like red meat and eggs.

I can understand how the idea sits nicely in people's minds. Just the simple look of saturated fat conjures thoughts of artery-clogged mayhem. When it is suggested to people that fat is in fact unhealthy, people accept this. They're comfortable with the idea, and it seems to make sense.
However, simply enough, we often forget that fats are digested in the intestine into small parts.

So point number 1 to remember is that the butter you might have layered onto your bread this morning is not simply seeping straight into your blood vessels as it is. Don't despair just yet! [Disclaimer! Most people probably recognise this once they give it some thought, and I don't mean to sound condescending or anything. I know people aren't stupid!:)] Furthermore, cholesterol molecules are even carried around in special little containers called lipoproteins. These are like delivery vans, and they carry cholesterol from place to place in your body.

(I want to summarise the ideas without exploring each too extensively. I tend to just keep typing, but I'll try my best to keep the rest of my points shorter.... :rolleyes: )

The whole suggestion that cholesterol is the cause of heart disease began to spread from the 1950s. A little while later a scientist named Ancel Keyes published a 7 Countries Study, where data from 7 countries could be placed on a graph in order of increasing cholesterol consumption and, wouldn't you know it, showed a correlation between cholesterol intake and heart disease. It eventually got Keyes' face on Time magazine. Nice.
However, when available data from 22-27 (I can't remember the exact number) countries was graphed, there was no correlation. At all.
Here are some nice graphs about the topic:
http://www.innatebodybootcamp.com/fat-is-not-your-enemy/
There have been several other studies which have attempted to find the correlation between saturated fat and/or dietary cholesterol and heart disease. A common conclusion is that the scientists are 'disappointed' they haven't found more compelling evidence, ignoring what the results scream: there is no negative correlation!

[Note to self: be more brief! :pac:]


Some interesting thoughts:

• Excess carbohydrates are stored as saturated fat in the body. Firstly, other than being more calorie dense, why would our bodies, with their 100,000 years of evolution (and that's just as homosapiens) do something that kills us? Secondly, when we exercise and 'lose weight' we are actually burning this fat, which is effectively the same thing as eating it. Nobody is suggesting that it's unhealthy to lose weight. Why suggest that eating equivalent amounts of saturated fat is so deadly?

• The Maasai tribe in Kenya traditionally eat almost exclusively (bovine) meat, milk and blood. First of all, I'd hate to be one of their cows! Secondly (from Wikipedia, cited), "Electrocardiogram tests applied to 400 young adult male Maasai found no evidence whatsoever of heart disease, abnormalities or malfunction."

• We often hear that eating more than 1 egg a day is very unhealthy (or variations on that idea). This is because eggs contain a considerable amount of cholesterol. So it would seem that eating an egg will raise cholesterol levels. However, our livers are great. The liver actually compromises for dietary cholesterol by reducing the amount of cholesterol that it produces itself. So dietary cholesterol goes up, naturally produced cholesterol goes down (and vice versa).

• Not that a high cholesterol level is necessarily a bad thing. As I mentioned wayyy up at the top, there are many functions for cholesterol. It appears to me that if we take away the 'tools' to carry out these tasks (i.e. if we lower cholesterol levels), the tasks will be done less efficiently. That's not good. Proponents of low cholesterol levels argue that when heart attack sufferers are examined, the plaque build up contains high amounts of cholesterol. But wait! Cholesterol is merely attempting to help treat a damaged area of the artery. It's like blaming a band-aid for causing a cut.

• So what does cause this damage to arteries? Basically sugar goes into the blood stream and is toxic at too high levels. Eating too much sugar obviously results in high blood sugar levels. This contributes to the inflammation which ultimately results in the formation of an atherosclerotic plaque (now, there's a big word :rolleyes:). Additionally, there are man-made abominations called trans fats/Hydrogenated fats. These are made from polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats (generally considered 'good'). Margerine contains hydrogenated fats. I won't even get started on the flaws in margerine, however because they are not natural, our body's can't digest them effectively. They should be avoided. I would assume that there are some other contributors to inflammation, but admittedly I can't say I know them.

• As far as I'm aware, there are very few theories (physiologically based, as opposed to statistical) which give any worthwhile explanation of how saturated fat causes heart disease. This, combined with widespread failure of any study to determine a positive statistical correlation between saturated fat intake and heart disease, basically point directly to the idea that, maybe, just maybe, there is no link worth considering.

• Humans have been eating large quantities of saturated fats and cholesterol for thousands upon thousands of years. Heart disease has developed most substantially in the past 100.

• The part that sounds most like a nutty conspiracy theory, but makes sense: the anti-saturated-fat industry, as well as the statin industry are huge. They have millions to spend on advertising, and promotion of their low fat and low cholesterol ideals is everywhere. I have two points: firstly, think of how often we see adverts for a butter substitute or a low fat yogurt. This subconsciously reinforces the idea in our minds that saturated fat and cholesterol are bad. Think how much less we'd be exposed to the topic without these spreads and their advertisements. My suggestions wouldn't sound so strange, and people wouldn't look at me as though I have two heads when I make these points. I'll also add that big pharmaceutical companies will fund studies to support their product. A: Scientists are going to want to please the companies, as they're paying them. This is an incentive to favour one set of conclusions over another. B: It can be difficult to find funding for examination of the entire credibility of the anti-choloesterol/sat. fat hypothesis.

That should do for the moment!

- I know it becomes a little bit more complicated with cholesterol, where lipoproteins are claimed to be the real problem, and that divides further into LDL, HDL, etc. I have used 'cholesterol' to refer to these, and I think the points I made should remain valid.

- This doesn't mean we should all rush out to MacDonald's. The quality of your food is still uber important. I'm talking about a good quality steak and foods of that standard.

- If you've read this far, thank you! In the big picture, the argument I've outlined above seems pretty sound to me. I'd love to know for sure, so if you can confirm or deny, that'd be fantastic! I'm in sixth year and all going to plan I'll get to do medicine next year. Maybe that'll put me in a position to find out, some day... :rolleyes:



MORE!
A Handful of Web Pages:
http://foodfithealth.com/blog/truth-saturated-fat/
http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/saturated-fat.html
http://www.innatebodybootcamp.com/fat-is-not-your-enemy/ (this is linked in the post too )
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-are-trans-fats-bad/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/saturated-fat-healthy/
(A quick Googling of 'saturated fat is healthy' or 'truth about cholesterol' should yield various websites discussing these ideas)

Books:
The Great Cholesterol Con - Dr. Malcolm Kendrick MD (This looks at a heap of studies done on the topic)
Good Calories Bad Calories - Gary Taubes (Kind of focuses on carbs, but it's good to learn about that too!:))

Its great to know an avacado has more fibre than porridge

Any good tips to help reduce the amount of carbs in a diet??

I eat a whooful amount of carbs. eg. what could i substitute say potatoes with for a normal dinner??? Beans? Lentils??

Help :P

I never really eat potatoes with stuff with them, say i'd eat maybe potatoes, maybe chicken, peas and carrots (typical irish diet). I know carbs are good and bad, i just wanna cut some of them down!