A Primer on Dietary Fat

The quick answer:  Most of what you’re heard about fat is wrong.  For best health enjoy natural fats in your diet, including omega-3 fats from plants and animals.  Fats make everything taste better and improve bioavailability of fat-soluble vitamins (K, A, D and E) and nutrients.

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Omega-3 Fat Primer (in 285 words)

A fat (fatty acid) is a chain of carbon atoms with a head and a tail.   The number of carbons is variable but all chain lengths provide needed benefits.  In the last 50 years we were taught that fats were unhealthy and many processed foods were introduced in low-fat or nonfat versions.  This was big mistake #1. 

Think about a fat, composed of a chain of carbon atoms with a head and tail:  If all the carbons have two adjoining hydrogen atoms the fat is saturated.  Saturated fats are stable—meaning they have a long shelf life.  They’re also solid at room temperature.

If a carbon atom is missing its hydrogen atoms it is unsaturated to some degree.  Unsaturated fats are more reactive—a good thing for your body—but when exposed to oxygen in the air they will oxidize which is why your olive oil can go rancid.  Because shelf life is critical for processed foods, those more reactive omega-3 fats were unknowingly removed.  Call this big mistake #2. 

Omega-3 fats are divided into two groups: short chain (found in plants) and long chain (from the fish and animals that eat plants).  You need both forms—the long-chain fats are especially critical to brain health.  There is a link between the rising rate of adult dementia and eating too few long-chain omega-3 fats. 

Your body can convert short-chain omega-3s to long-chain forms but at a limited rate, so for optimum brain health you need fats from fish and animals.  Feedlot animals eat dried grains (high in omega-6 fats) and few green plants (which supply omega-3)—big mistake #3.  So for a good balance of omega-3 to -6, include some pastured meats and fish in your diet.

The Queen of Fats

For more, read Susan Allport's book about omega-3, "The Queen of Fats." discussed in this post.  For additional info, check this past omega-3 fat post.

Skip Protests

For healthcare, the Beautiful Wife and I joined Kaiser Permanente.  In my prior life in the medical device industry I visited many of their California facilities and admired KP’s organization of preventative medicine.  At doctor visits, for example, there is a routine check of your weight and blood pressure—thus emphasizing two keys to good health.  Their goal is to keep you out of the hospital.

They also have a newsletter to support healthy living.  But a recent issue addressed the issue of fat in our diet and repeated all the errors we have been hearing about fats for the last generation.  I fired off a letter of objection that pointed out five grave errors and requested they publish a correction.  I also suggested five true statements familiar to you good readers of Word of Wisdom Living:

1. Avoid any product containing hydrogenated oil (shown on the ingredient list) due to issues such as trans fat toxicity.
2. Enjoy minimally processed traditional fats like butter, domestic olive oil, and properly processed tropical (coconut and palm) oils.  Healthy fats taste good and are filling.
3. Minimize consumption of so-called vegetable oils (solvent-refined soybean and seed oils).  Likewise, avoid foods from commercial deep fat fryers, which contain oxidized vegetable oils.
4. Balance the omega-3 and omega-6 oils in your diet by minimizing processed foods (high in omega-6 and deficient in omega-3 fat) and focusing on whole foods and healthy meats (omega-3 is intact).
5. Fresh nuts are a good source of healthy fats.

It’s been six weeks—I’m still waiting for KP’s correction.

Please comment on your experience with omega-3 and omega-6 fats.  People need both, but we have to get back to a balance.  In our home we minimize refined oils in favor of traditional fats like butter and olive oil.