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Table of Contents

• Fatty Acid Classification by Saturation
  • Saturated
  • Monounsaturated
  • Polyunsaturated
• Dangers of Polyunsaturated
• Fatty Acid Classification by Length
  • Short-Chain
  • Medium-Chain
  • Long-Chain
  • Very Long-Chain
• Omega-3, -6, -9 Fatty Acids
  • What is the Difference?
  • Current vs Optimum Ratios
• Modern Methods of Processing Fats
  • Extraction
    • Process and Rancid Results
    • Safe Technique
  • Hydrogenation
    • Process and Toxic Results
  • Homogenization
    • Process and Toxic Results
• Trans Fats
  • What’s so Bad About Them
  • Link to Heart Disease
  • How to Avoid Them
• Interesterified Fats
  • Trans Fat’s Unhealthy Replacement
  • Why are They Bad
• Food Fat Composition
  • Duck and Goose
  • Chicken
  • Lard or Pork
  • Beef and Mutton
  • Olive Oil
  • Peanut Oil
  • Sesame Oil
  • Safflower, Corn, Sunflower, Soybean and Cottonseed Oils
  • Canola Oil
  • Flax Seed Oil
  • Tropical Oils
    • Palm Oil
    • Coconut Oil
• Fat Tips to Live By

Links:
General Information
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/08/17/saturated-fat1.aspx
Trans Fats
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/12/24/Trans-Fats-Can-Be-Deadly.aspx

SHOW NOTES

Fatty Acid Classification by Saturation

Saturated:

• A fatty acid is saturated when all available carbon bonds are occupied by a hydrogen atom.
• They are straight in form and hence pack together easily, so that they form a solid or semisolid fat at room temperature.
• Because all carbon bonds are occupied, saturated fat is highly stable
  • This means that they do not normally go rancid, even when heated for cooking purposes.
• Your body makes saturated fatty acids from carbohydrates and they are found in animal fats and tropical oils.

Monounsaturated:

• Monounsaturated fatty acids have one double bond
  • two carbon atoms double-bonded to each other
  • lack two hydrogen atoms
• Monounsaturated fats have a kink or bend at the position of the double bond
  • they do not pack together as easily as saturated fats
  • tend to be liquid at room temperature.
• Like saturated fats, they are relatively stable. They do not go rancid easily and hence can be used in cooking.
• Your body makes monounsaturated fatty acids from saturated fatty acids and uses them in a number of ways.
• The monounsaturated fatty acid most commonly found in our food is oleic acid
  • This is the main component of olive oil as well as the oils from almonds, pecans, cashews, peanuts and avocados.

Polyunsaturated:

• Polyunsaturated fatty acids have two or more pairs of double bonds
  • lack four or more hydrogen atoms
• The polyunsaturated fatty acids have kinks or turns at the position of the double bond and hence do not pack together easily. They are liquid, even when refrigerated.
• The unpaired electrons at the double bonds makes these oils highly reactive.
  • They go rancid easily, particularly omega-3 linolenic acid, and must be treated with care.
• Polyunsaturated oils should never be heated or used in cooking.
• In nature, the polyunsaturated fatty acids are usually found in the cis form, which means that both hydrogen atoms at the double bond are on the same side.
• The two polyunsaturated fatty acids found most frequently in our foods are:
  • double unsaturated linoleic acid
    • two double bonds-also called omega-6
  • triple unsaturated linolenic acid
    • three double bonds-also called omega-3. (The omega number indicates the position of the first double bond.)
  • Your body cannot make these fatty acids and hence they are called “essential.”
  • We must obtain our essential fatty acids or EFA’s from the foods we eat.

All vegetable or animal fats and oils contain some combination of

• saturated fatty acids
• monounsaturated fatty acids
• polyunsaturated linoleic acid and linolenic acid

• Animal fats such as butter, lard and tallow contain about 40-60% saturated fat and are solid at room temperature
• Vegetable oils from northern climates contain a lot polyunsaturated fatty acids and are liquid at room temperature.
• Vegetable oils from the tropics are highly saturated. Coconut oil, for example, is 92% saturated.
• These fats are liquid in the tropics but hard as butter in northern climes.
• Vegetable oils are more saturated in hot climates because the increased saturation helps maintain stiffness in plant leaves.

The Dangers Of Polyunsaturates

• The public has been fed a great deal of misinformation about the relative virtues of saturated fats versus polyunsaturated oils.
• Politically correct dietary gurus tell us that the polyunsaturated oils are good for us and that the saturated fats cause cancer and heart disease.
• The result is that fundamental changes have occurred in the Western diet.
• At the turn of the century, most of the fatty acids in the diet were
  • either saturated or monounsaturated, primarily from butter, lard, tallows, coconut oil and small amounts of olive oil.
• Today most of the fats in the diet are
  • polyunsaturated from vegetable oils derived mostly from soy, as well as from corn, safflower and canola.
• Modern diets can contain as much as 30% of calories as polyunsaturated oils, but scientific research indicates that this amount is far too high.
• The best evidence indicates that our intake of polyunsaturates should not be much greater than 4% of the caloric total, in approximate proportions of 2 % omega-3 linolenic acid and 2 % omega-6 linoleic acid
• Excess consumption of polyunsaturated oils has been shown to contribute to a large number of disease conditions including increased cancer and heart disease; immune system dysfunction; damage to the liver, reproductive organs and lungs; digestive disorders; depressed learning ability; impaired growth; and weight gain.
• One reason the polyunsaturates cause so many health problems is that they tend to become oxidized or rancid when subjected to heat, oxygen and moisture as in cooking and processing.
• Rancid oils are characterized by free radicals-that is, single atoms or clusters with an unpaired electron in an outer orbit. These compounds are extremely reactive chemically.
  • They have been characterized as “marauders” in the body for they attack cell membranes and red blood cells and cause damage in DNA/RNA strands, thus triggering mutations in tissue, blood vessels and skin.
  • Free radical damage to the skin causes wrinkles and premature aging; free radical damage to the tissues and organs sets the stage for tumors; free radical damage in the blood vessels initiates the buildup of plaque.
• Tests and studies have repeatedly shown a high correlation between cancer and heart disease with the consumption of polyunsaturates

Classification Of Fatty Acids By Length

Short-chain fatty acids

• have four to six carbon atoms.
• These fats are always saturated.
  • Four-carbon butyric acid is found mostly in butterfat from cows
  • six-carbon capric acid is found mostly in butterfat from goats
• These fatty acids have antimicrobial properties
  • they protect us from viruses, yeasts and pathogenic bacteria in the gut.
• They do not need to be acted on by the bile salts but are directly absorbed for quick energy.
  • For this reason, they are less likely to cause weight gain than olive oil or commercial vegetable oils.
• Short-chain fatty acids also contribute to the health of the immune system

Medium-chain fatty acids

• have eight to twelve carbon atoms
• are found mostly in butterfat and the tropical oils.
• Like the short-chain fatty acids, these fats have antimicrobial properties
• are absorbed directly for quick energy; and contribute to the health of the immune system.

Long-chain fatty acids

• have from 14 to 18 carbon atoms and can be either saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated.
• Stearic acid is an 18-carbon saturated fatty acid found chiefly in beef and mutton tallows.
• Oleic acid is an 18-carbon monounsaturated fat which is the chief component of olive oil.
• Another monounsaturated fatty acid is the 16-carbon palmitoleic acid which has strong antimicrobial properties. It is found almost exclusively in animal fats.
• Another important long-chain fatty acid is gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) which has 18 carbons and three double bonds.
  • It is found in evening primrose, borage and black currant oils.
  • Your body makes GLA out of omega-6 linoleic acid and uses it in the production of substances called prostaglandins, localized tissue hormones that regulate many processes at the cellular level.

Very-long-chain fatty acids

• have 20 to 24 carbon atoms.
• They tend to be highly unsaturated, with four, five or six double bonds.
• Some people can make these fatty acids from EFA’s, but others, particularly those whose ancestors ate a lot of fish, lack enzymes to produce them.
  • These “obligate carnivores” must obtain them from animal foods such as organ meats, egg yolks, butter and fish oils.
• The most important very-long-chain fatty acids are dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA) with 20 carbons and three double bonds
• arachidonic acid (AA) with 20 carbons and four double bonds
• eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) with 20 carbons and five double bonds
• docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) with 22 carbons and six double bonds.
• All of these except DHA are used in the production of prostaglandins, localized tissue hormones that direct many processes in the cells.
• In addition, AA and DHA play important roles in the function of the nervous system.

Omega-3,-6,-9 Fatty Acids

What is the difference?
They are a families of unsaturated fatty acids that have in common a final carbon–carbon double bond in the

• omega-3 fatty acids:  n−3 position; that is, the third bond from the methyl end of the fatty acid
• omega-6 fatty acids:  n−6 position; sixth bond from the methyl end of the fatty acid
• omega-9 fatty acids:  n−9 position; ninth bond from the methyl end of the fatty acid

Current vs Optimum Ratios

• A number of researchers have argued American diet has:
  • surplus of omega-6 fatty acids
  • deficiency of more unsaturated omega-3 linolenic acid
    • • This fatty acid is necessary for
      • cell oxidation
      • metabolizing important sulphur-containing amino acids and
      • maintaining proper balance in prostaglandin production.

• Most commercial vegetable oils contain very little omega-3 linolenic acid and large amounts of the omega-6 linoleic acid
• Modern agricultural and industrial practices have reduced the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in commercially available vegetables, eggs, fish and meat.
  • For example, organic eggs from hens allowed to feed on insects and green plants can contain omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in the beneficial ratio of approximately one-to-one
  • but commercial supermarket eggs can contain as much as nineteen times more omega-6 than omega-3!
• Deficiencies  of omega-3s have been associated with asthma, heart disease and learning deficiencies

• Nutritionally important omega−3 fatty acids include α-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), all of which are polyunsaturated.
• The human body cannot synthesize omega−3 fatty acids de novo
• The a-linolenic acid is essential (cannot manufacture, therefore must ingest)
• EPA and DHA can be ingested OR formed by the body from a-linolenic acid
• Ingesting EPA and DHA is preferred because the enzymes needed to form them from a-linolenic acid are also being used by omega 6 fatty acids and are in limited supply.
• When fat forming enzymes are limited, the omega 6 usage trumps the omega 3 usage.
• The ideal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats should be 1:1
• Today, our intake ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 averages from 20:1 to 50:1
• The omega−6:omega−3 ratio will significantly influence the ratio of the ensuing eicosanoids (hormones), (e.g. prostaglandins, leukotrienes, thromboxanes etc.), and will alter the body’s metabolic function.
• Recent research has revealed that too much omega-6 in the diet creates an imbalance that can interfere with production of important prostaglandins
  • This disruption can result in increased tendency to form blood clots, inflammation, high blood pressure, irritation of the digestive tract, depressed immune function, sterility, cell proliferation, cancer and weight gain.
• The conversion of tissue arachidonic acid (20:4n-6) to n-6 prostaglandin and n-6 leukotriene hormones provides many targets for pharmaceutical drug development and treatment to diminish excessive n-6 actions in atherosclerosis, asthma, arthritis, vascular disease, thrombosis, immune-inflammatory processes, and tumor proliferation

Modern Methods Of Processing Fats
Polyunsaturated oils are most easily rendered dangerous by food processing, especially unstable omega-3 linolenic acid.
Consider the following processes inflicted upon naturally occurring fatty acids before they appear on our tables:

Extraction:

• Oils naturally occurring in fruits, nuts and seeds must first be extracted.
• In the old days this extraction was achieved by slow-moving stone presses.
• But oils processed in large factories are obtained by crushing the oil-bearing seeds and heating them to 230 degrees.
• The oil is then squeezed out at pressures from 10 to 20 tons per inch, thereby generating more heat.
• During this process the oils are exposed to damaging light and oxygen.
• In order to extract the last 10% or so of the oil from crushed seeds, processors treat the pulp with one of a number of solvents-usually hexane.
  • The solvent is then boiled off, although up to 100 parts per million may remain in the oil.
  • Such solvents, themselves toxic, also retain the toxic pesticides adhering to seeds and grains before processing begins.
• High-temperature processing causes the weak carbon bonds of unsaturated fatty acids, especially triple unsaturated linolenic acid, to break apart, thereby creating dangerous free radicals.
• In addition, antioxidants, such as fat-soluble vitamin E, which protect the body from the ravages of free radicals, are neutralized or destroyed by high temperatures and pressures.
  • BHT and BHA, both suspected of causing cancer and brain damage, are often added to these oils to replace vitamin E and other natural preservatives destroyed by heat.
• There is a safe modern technique for extraction that drills into the seeds and extracts the oil and its precious cargo of antioxidants under low temperatures, with minimal exposure to light and oxygen.
  • These expeller-expressed, unrefined oils will remain fresh for a long time if stored in the refrigerator in dark bottles.
  • Extra virgin olive oil is produced by crushing olives between stone or steel rollers. This process is a gentle one that preserves the integrity of the fatty acids and the numerous natural preservatives in olive oil.
  • If olive oil is packaged in opaque containers, it will retain its freshness and precious store of antioxidants for many years.

Hydrogenation:

• This is the process that turns polyunsaturates, normally liquid at room temperature, into fats that are solid at room temperature-margarine and shortening.
• To produce them, manufacturers begin with the cheapest oils-soy, corn, cottonseed or canola,
  • already rancid from the extraction process-and mix them with tiny metal particles-usually nickel oxide.
• The oil with its nickel catalyst is then subjected to hydrogen gas in a high-pressure, high-temperature reactor.
• Next, soap-like emulsifiers and starch are squeezed into the mixture to give it a better consistency;
• the oil is yet again subjected to high temperatures when it is steam-cleaned.
  • This removes its unpleasant odor.
• Margarine’s natural color, an unappetizing gray, is removed by bleach
• Dyes and strong flavors must then be added to make it resemble butter.
• Finally, the mixture is compressed and packaged in blocks or tubs and sold as a health food.
• Partially hydrogenated margarines and shortenings are even worse for you than the highly refined vegetable oils from which they are made because of chemical changes that occur during the hydrogenation process.
• Under high temperatures, the nickel catalyst causes the hydrogen atoms to change position on the fatty acid chain.
  • Before hydrogenation, pairs of hydrogen atoms occur together on the chain, causing the chain to bend slightly and creating a concentration of electrons at the site of the double bond.
    • This is called the cis formation, the configuration most commonly found in nature.
  • With hydrogenation, one hydrogen atom of the pair is moved to the other side so that the molecule straightens. This is called the trans formation, rarely found in nature.
• Most of these man-made trans fats are toxins to the body, but unfortunately your digestive system does not recognize them as such.
  • Instead of being eliminated, trans fats are incorporated into cell membranes as if they were cis fats-your cells actually become partially hydrogenated!
    • Once in place, trans fatty acids with their misplaced hydrogen atoms wreak havoc in cell metabolism because chemical reactions can only take place when electrons in the cell membranes are in certain arrangements or patterns, which the hydrogenation process has disturbed.
• In the 1940′s, researchers found a strong correlation between cancer and the consumption of fat
  • the fats used were hydrogenated fats although the results were presented as though the culprit were saturated fats
• In fact, until recently saturated fats were usually lumped together with trans fats in the various U.S. data bases that researchers use to correlate dietary trends with disease conditions.
• Thus, natural saturated fats were tarred with the black brush of unnatural hydrogenated vegetable oils.
• Altered partially hydrogenated fats made from vegetable oils actually block utilization of essential fatty acids,
  • causing many effects including sexual dysfunction, increased blood cholesterol and paralysis of the immune system.
• Consumption of hydrogenated fats is associated with a host of other serious diseases, not only cancer but also
  • atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity, immune system dysfunction, low-birth-weight babies, birth defects, decreased visual acuity, sterility, difficulty in lactation and problems with bones and tendons
• Yet hydrogenated fats continue to be promoted as health foods.
• Your best defense is to avoid it like the plague.

Homogenization:

• This is the process whereby the fat particles of cream are strained through tiny pores under great pressure.
• The resulting fat particles are so small that they stay in suspension rather than rise to the top of the milk.
• This makes the fat and cholesterol more susceptible to rancidity and oxidation, and some research indicates that homogenized fats may contribute to heart disease

Trans Fats
Trans fatty acids, also known as trans fat, is formed when vegetable oils are hardened into margarine or shortening.

What’s so Bad About Trans Fats?

• The end result of the hydrogenation process is a completely unnatural fat that causes dysfunction and chaos in your body on a cellular level.
• Trans fats have been linked to:
  • Cancer: They interfere with enzymes your body uses to fight cancer.
  • Diabetes: They interfere with the insulin receptors in your cell membranes.
  • Decreased immune function: They reduce your immune response.
  • Problems with reproduction: They interfere with enzymes needed to produce sex hormones.
  • Obesity
  • Heart disease: Trans fats can cause major clogging of your arteries.
• Trans fats even interfere with your body’s use of beneficial omega-3 fats, and have been linked to an increase in asthma.

There is a Link Between Fat and Heart Disease!

• Most studies make no effort to differentiate between saturated fat and trans fat. This might be the missing link.
• If researchers evaluated the risks of heart disease by measuring the levels of trans and saturated fat, they might find a completely different story.
• Trans fat is known to increase your LDL levels, or “bad” cholesterol, while lowering your levels of HDL, known as “good” cholesterol, which, of course is the complete opposite of what you need in order to maintain good heart health.
• It can also cause major clogging of arteries, type 2 diabetes and other serious health problems.
• Unfortunately, many food companies use trans fat instead of oil because it reduces cost, extends storage life of products and can improve flavor and texture.
• Your body needs some amount of saturated fat to stay healthy. It is virtually impossible to achieve a nutritionally adequate diet that has no saturated fat.
• What you don’t need, however, are trans fats.

How You Can Avoid Trans Fats

• Trans fats are found in fried foods like French fries, fried chicken, doughnuts, cookies, pastries and crackers.
  • In the United States, French fries typically contain about 40 percent trans fatty acids and many popular cookies
  • crackers range from 30 percent to 50 percent trans fat.
  • Doughnuts have about 35 percent to 40 percent trans fatty acids.
• Due to all the bad press trans fats are getting, in recent years many food manufacturers have removed them from their products.
• You need to read the label and look for more than just 0 grams of trans fat.
• One point you should be aware of is the loophole used by many food companies to get around the labeling requirements for trans fats.
  • They can still claim their product is trans fat-free if it has less than 500 mg trans fat per serving.
  • So many have decreased their serving size to the point that the ratio of trans fat falls below 500 mg.
  • So, if a serving size seems ridiculously low, it’s probably hiding trans fat content.
• Check the ingredients and look for partially hydrogenated oil.
• If the product lists this ingredient, it contains trans fats.

Interesterified Fat
Watch Out for Trans Fats’ Unhealthy Replacement Fat, Too

• Now that the health dangers of trans fats have been clearly exposed, the food industry would do you a great favor by returning to the use of natural saturated fats.
• But that would mean reversing their entirely unscientific, 50-year campaign to vilify saturated fats, and would bring an end to the enormously powerful edible oil industry.
• Instead, the food industry has been widely replacing trans fats with interesterified fat, another unnatural fat that you’d be wise to avoid.
• The interesterification process hardens fat, similar to the hydrogenation process, but without producing oils that contain trans fats.
• The end product, like trans fat, is less likely to go rancid and is stable enough to use to fry foods.
• However, like hydrogenation, which generates unnatural trans fats, interesterification also produces molecules that do not exist in nature.

Why interesterified fats are bad:

• will still contain chemical residues, hexanes, and other hazardous waste products full of free radicals that cause cell damage.
• Studies show that interesterified fat raises your blood glucose and depresses insulin production.
• These conditions are common precursors to diabetes, and can present an even more immediate danger if you already have the disease.
• After only four weeks consuming these fats, study volunteers’ blood glucose levels rose sharply — by 20 percent.
• This is a much worse result than what is seen with trans fats.
• Natural vegetable oils that have been processed in any way will create problems for your body at the cellular level.
• These fats are no longer in their natural state, and your body doesn’t know how to handle them.
• Your system will try to make use of them and in the process, these fats end up in cell membranes and other locations where they can wreak havoc with your health.
• If a processed food product is labeled “0% trans fats” or “no trans fats” but is made from vegetable oils, you can be certain it contains either interesterified fats or fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, both of which you’ll want to avoid.

Food Fat Composition

Duck and Goose Fat

• semisolid at room temperature
• 35% saturated fat
• 52% monounsaturated fat (including small amounts of antimicrobial palmitoleic acid)
• 13% polyunsaturated fat
• The proportion of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids depends on what the birds have eaten
• Duck and goose fat are quite stable and are highly prized in Europe for frying potatoes.

Chicken Fat

• 31% saturated
• 49% monounsaturated (including moderate amounts of antimicrobial palmitoleic acid)
• 20% polyunsaturated
• most of which is omega-6 linoleic acid
• although the amount of omega-3 can be raised by feeding chickens flax or fish meal, or allowing them to range free and eat insects
• Although widely used for frying in kosher kitchens, it is inferior to duck and goose fat,

Lard or Pork Fat

• 40% saturated
• 48% monounsaturated (including small amounts of antimicrobial palmitoleic acid)
• 12% polyunsaturated
• Like the fat of birds, the amount of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids will vary in lard according to what has been fed to the pigs.
• Like duck and goose fat, lard is stable and a preferred fat for frying.
• It is a good source of vitamin D, especially in third-world countries where other animal foods are likely to be expensive.

Beef and Mutton Tallows

• 50-55% saturated
• 40% monounsaturated
• small amounts of the polyunsaturates, usually less than 3%.
• Suet, which is the fat from the cavity of the animal, is 70-80% saturated.
• Suet and tallow are very stable fats and can be used for frying.
• They are a good source of antimicrobial palmitoleic acid.

Olive Oil

• 75% oleic acid, the stable monounsaturated fat
• 13% saturated fat
• 10% omega-6 linoleic acid
• 2% omega-3 linolenic acid.
• The high percentage of oleic acid makes olive oil ideal for salads and for cooking at moderate temperatures.
• Extra virgin olive oil is also rich in antioxidants.
• It should be cloudy, indicating that it has not been filtered, and have a golden yellow color, indicating that it is made from fully ripened olives.
• Olive oil has withstood the test of time; it is the safest vegetable oil you can use, but don’t overdo.
• The longer chain fatty acids found in olive oil are more likely to contribute to the buildup of body fat than the short- and medium-chain fatty acids found in butter, coconut oil or palm kernel oil.

Peanut Oil

• 48% oleic acid
• 18% saturated fat
• 34% omega-6 linoleic acid
• Like olive oil, peanut oil is relatively stable and, therefore, appropriate for stir-frys on occasion.
• But the high percentage of omega-6 presents a potential danger, so use of peanut oil should be strictly limited.

Sesame Oil

• 42% oleic acid
• 15% saturated fat
• 43% omega-6 linoleic acid
• Sesame oil is similar in composition to peanut oil.
• It can be used for frying because it contains unique antioxidants that are not destroyed by heat
• However, the high percentage of omega-6 militates against exclusive use.

Safflower, Corn, Sunflower, Soybean and Cottonseed Oils

• over 50% omega-6 and, except for soybean oil
• only minimal amounts of omega-3
• Safflower oil contains almost 80% omega-6
• Researchers are just beginning to discover the dangers of excess omega-6 oils in the diet, whether rancid or not
• Use of these oils should be strictly limited
• They should never be consumed after they have been heated, as in cooking, frying or baking

Canola Oil

• 5% saturated fat
• 57% oleic acid
• 23% omega-6
• 10%-15% omega-3
• The newest oil on the market, canola oil was developed from the rape seed, a member of the mustard family
• Rape seed is unsuited to human consumption because it contains a very-long-chain fatty acid called erucic acid, which under some circumstances is associated with fibrotic heart lesions.
• Canola oil was bred to contain little if any erucic acid and has drawn the attention of nutritionists because of its high oleic acid content.
• But there are some indications that canola oil presents dangers of its own.
• It has a high sulphur content and goes rancid easily.
• Baked goods made with canola oil develop mold very quickly.
• During the deodorizing process, the omega-3 fatty acids of processed canola oil are transformed into trans fatty acids, similar to those in margarine and possibly more dangerous.
• A recent study indicates that “heart healthy” canola oil actually creates a deficiency of vitamin E, a vitamin required for a healthy cardiovascular system.
• Other studies indicate that even low-erucic-acid canola oil causes heart lesions, particularly when the diet is low in saturated fat.

Flax Seed Oil

• 9% saturated fatty acids
• 18% oleic acid
• 16% omega-6
• 57% omega-3
• With its extremely high omega-3 content, flax seed oil provides a remedy for the omega-6/omega-3 imbalance so prevalent in America today.
• New extraction and bottling methods have minimized rancidity problems.
• It should always be kept refrigerated, never heated, and consumed in small amounts in salad dressings and spreads.

Tropical Oils
These are more saturated than other vegetable oils

Palm oil

• 50% saturated, with 41% oleic acid and about 9% linoleic acid
• Palm kernel oil, used primarily in candy coatings, also contains high levels of lauric acid.
• These oils are extremely stable and can be kept at room temperature for many months without becoming rancid.

Coconut oil

• 92% saturated with over two-thirds of the saturated fat in the form of medium-chain fatty acids (often called medium-chain triglycerides).
• Of particular interest is lauric acid, found in large quantities in both coconut oil and in mother’s milk.
• This fatty acid has strong antifungal and antimicrobial properties.
• Coconut oil protects tropical populations from bacteria and fungus so prevalent in their food supply; as third-world nations in tropical areas have switched to polyunsaturated vegetable oils, the incidence of intestinal disorders and immune deficiency diseases has increased dramatically.
• Because coconut oil contains lauric acid, it is often used in baby formulas.

Highly saturated tropical oils do not contribute to heart disease but have nourished healthy populations for millennia.
It is a shame we do not use these oils for cooking and baking—the bad rap they have received is the result of intense lobbying by the domestic vegetable oil industry.
Red palm oil has a strong taste that most will find disagreeable—although it is used extensively throughout Africa—but clarified palm oil, which is tasteless and white in color, was formerly used as shortening and in the production of commercial French fries, while coconut oil was used in cookies, crackers and pastries.
The saturated fat scare has forced manufacturers to abandon these safe and healthy oils in favor of hydrogenated soybean, corn, canola and cottonseed oils.

In summary, our choice of fats and oils is one of extreme importance. Most people, especially infants and growing children, benefit from more fat in the diet rather than less. But the fats we eat must be chosen with care. Avoid all processed foods containing newfangled hydrogenated fats and polyunsaturated oils. Instead, use traditional vegetable oils like extra virgin olive oil and small amounts of unrefined flax seed oil. Acquaint yourself with the merits of coconut oil for baking and with animal fats for occasional frying. Eat egg yolks and other animal fats with the proteins to which they are attached. And, finally, use as much good quality butter as you like, with the happy assurance that it is a wholesome—indeed, an essential—food for you and your whole family.

Organic butter, extra virgin olive oil, and expeller-expressed flax oil in opaque containers are available in health food stores and gourmet markets.

Fat Tips to Live By

• Sadly, if you’re like most Americans, your diet consists predominantly of processed food.
• Eating processed foods, especially those with a long shelf life, means you’re consuming interesterified fats, trans fats, or some other type of man-made ingredient that your body was not designed to metabolize.
• If you want to avoid dangerous fats of all kinds, your best bet is to eliminate processed foods from your diet. From there, use these tips to make sure you’re eating the right fats for your health:
  • Use organic butter (preferably made from raw milk) instead of margarines and vegetable oil spreads.
  • Butter is a healthy whole food that has received an unwarranted bad rap.
  • Use coconut oil for cooking. It is far superior to any other cooking oil and is loaded with health benefits.
  • To round out your healthy fat intake, be sure to eat raw fats, such as those from avocados, raw dairy products, and olive oil, and also take a high-quality source of animal-based omega-3 fat, such as krill oil.



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