Good Healthy Fats

Fats from nature are always good and healthy including saturated and natural trans-fat conjugated linoleic acid CLA. However it is healthy only if it is in moderation.

Trans-fats are Good! If it is from NATURE

Trans-fat conjugated linoleic acid or CLA is right for your health because naturally made in the bodies of ruminants (cows). The best sources of CLA are grass-fed beef (not factory-farmed, grain-fed) and raw dairy products from grass-fed cattle. CLA is useful for cancer, asthma, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, high cholesterol & triglycerides, osteoporosis, insulin resistance, inflammation, and obesity.

Benefits of Saturated Fats – Good fats

"The more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the lower the person's serum (blood) cholesterol." -- William Castelli M.D., Framingham Director

Saturated fats are predominantly from animal products such as meat, dairy, and eggs. It is also in some plant sources such as coconut, palm, and palm kernel oils.

The myth that saturated fat causes heart disease has undoubtedly harmed a limitless number of lives over the past several decades.

Pacific Island populations get 30-60% of their total caloric from saturated oil (coconut oil). Nevertheless, there is non-existence of cardiovascular disease.

Association of Dietary, Circulating, and Supplement Fatty Acids with Coronary Risk: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis published in Annals of Internal Medicine, 18 March 2014, Vol. 160, No. 6. This study shows the current evidence does not support cardiovascular guidelines that encourage high consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids and low consumption of total saturated fats.

The cardiometabolic consequences of replacing saturated fats with carbohydrates or Ω-6 polyunsaturated fats: Do the dietary guidelines have it wrong? Open Heart 2014; 1: Date of issue: 10.1136/openhrt-2013-000032. The study shows the increase in the prevalence of diabetes and obesity in the USA occurred with an increase in the consumption of carbohydrate, not saturated fat. The benefits of a low-fat diet (particularly a diet replacing saturated fats with carbohydrates or Ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids) severely challenged. Dietary guidelines should assess the totality of the evidence and strongly reconsider their recommendations for replacing saturated fats with carbohydrates or Ω-6 polyunsaturated fats.

Importance of Saturated fat

The much-maligned saturated fats, which Americans are trying to avoid, are not the cause of our modern diseases. They play many essential roles in the body:

1. Cell structure contains at least 50% saturated fatty acids. They give the cells necessary stiffness and integrity.
2. Bones require saturated fat for their optimal health. The body needs at least 50% of the dietary fats from saturated fatty acid for the calcium effectively incorporating into the skeletal structure.
3. Lp (a) is a substance in the blood prone to heart disease; saturated fat helps lower it. Ref: Plasma Lipoprotein (a) Levels in Men and Women Consuming Diets Enriched in Saturated, Cis, or Trans-Monounsaturated Fatty Acids, published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, 1997; 17: 1657-1661. The study shows saturated fatty acids consistently decrease Lp(a) concentrations.
4. Liver protection is by saturated fatty acids from the toxic insults of alcohol, other toxins & medications. It even can reverse the damage. Reference Dietary saturated fatty acids: a novel treatment for alcoholic liver disease published in Gastroenterology, 1995 Aug; 109(2):547-54. The study shows a diet enriched in saturated fatty acids reversed alcohol liver injury. Down-regulation of lipid peroxidation may explain this effect.
5. Essential fatty acids such as omega-3 fatty acids are better remaining in the tissues when the diet is rich in saturated fats.
6. Lung's airspaces are coating with a thin layer of lung surfactant made of 100 % saturated fatty acids. Replacing this fat by other fat types makes faulty surfactant causing breathing difficulties, airspace collapse, and respiratory problems.
7. The brain mainly made of fat & cholesterol. Although unsaturated essential fatty acids in cold-water fish (EPA & DHA) are necessary for brain & nerve function, most of the fatty acids in the brain are saturated. The brain requires saturated fats for its optimal functioning.
8. Nerve signaling is by certain saturated fats found in butter, lard, coconut, and palm oil. It functions as signaling messengers for hormone production, including insulin.
9. The immune system depends on medium-chain saturated fatty acids such as myristic & lauric found in butter and coconut oil, which have potent germ-killing ability. Loss of these fatty acids in the white blood cells hampers their ability to recognize and destroy foreign invaders, such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi. 
10. Heart muscle cells prefer saturated long-chain palmitic and stearic acid to carbohydrates.

It is not surprising that saturated fats make up 54 % of the fat in the mother’s breast milk.

Saturated fat and coronary heart disease

A study by D.M. Dreon et al., titled “Change in Dietary Saturated Fat Intake Correlated with Change in Mass of Large Low-density Lipoprotein Particles in Men,” published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 67, no. 5 (1998): 828–36. This study shows eating fewer saturated fats may result in lower cholesterol level. However, the reduction is only large velvety good LDL make up a pattern A cholesterol profile. Conversely, if there is increasing saturated fat intake and decreasing carbohydrate intake, a significant shift to more prominent, fluffy, harmless LDL particles and makes up a pattern B cholesterol profile.

A study "Dietary fats, carbohydrate, and progression of coronary atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women" was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition November 2004 volume 80 number 5 1175-1184. The study shows, with relatively low total fat intake, a higher saturated fat intake associated with less progression of atherosclerosis, whereas carbohydrate intake associated with more significant progress.

A study "Saturated fat prevents coronary artery disease? An American paradox" published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition November 2004 volume 80 number 5 1102-1103. This study shows, a high–saturated fat diet associated with diminished coronary artery disease progression in women with metabolic syndrome, a condition that is epidemic in the United States. This paradox presents a challenge to differentiate the effects of dietary fat on lipoproteins and cardiovascular disease risk in men and women, in the different lipid disorders and metabolic syndrome.

Saturated fat prevents coronary artery disease. An American paradox published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, November 2004 volume 80 number 5 1102-1103. The study shows attention to the different effects of diet on lipoprotein physiology and cardiovascular disease risk. These effects include the paradox that high–saturated fat intake is associated with diminished coronary artery disease. This paradox presents a challenge to differentiate the effects of dietary fat on lipoproteins and cardiovascular disease risk in men and women, in the different lipid disorders and metabolic syndrome.