The Fat Connection: Good, Bad & Ugly (Part II)

The Fat Connection: Good, Bad & Ugly (Part II) post image

In my previous post about fats, I talked about the need to eat the correct fats and how important they are to our health. In order to understand this a little more, and to understand the terminology of fats, we need talk about the chemistry of fats.

Fats are not soluble in water. Fatty acids (fats) are basically chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen bonded to the carbons. Most fats in our bodies and in the food we eat are in the form of triglycerides. These are three fatty acid chains bonded to a glycerol molecule. You may be familiar with the term triglycerides as something bad when elevated. Here again, conventional medicine dictates that elevated triglycerides come from eating too many fats. In fact, triglycerides get elevated when a person eats too many carbohydrates, especially simple sugars and starches from refined white flour products. Appropriate fats (listed below) are important and necessary in maintaining good health.

The most basic classification is according to the degree of saturation: saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated.

Saturated fats are highly stable and good for cooking with high heat. They are saturated because all the carbons are linked to hydrogens. This makes them very stable and solid or semi-solid at room temperature. Examples are, butter, tallow, lard, and coconut oil.

Monounsaturated fatty acids are missing two hydrogen atoms  and so two carbon atoms are double bonded to each other making one double bond, hence the work “mono”. These are still relatively stable, but are liquid at room temperature. Examples of monounsaturated fats are olive oil, avocado oil, and the oils from almonds, pecans, peanuts and cashews.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids lack four or more hydrogens and so have two or more pairs of double bonds.  Some of these are the omega 6 (linoleic acid) and omega 3 (linolenic acid) fatty acids, which are named according to the position of the double bond on the fatty acid chain. These oils are highly reactive and can go rancid very quickly. They should not be used for cooking.

Another system of classifying fatty acids is by their length of the chain of carbons.

Short-chain fatty acids have four to six carbon atoms. These are always saturated. Examples are butyric acid found in butterfat from cows and capric acid found in butterfat from goats. These fats have antimicrobial properties.  They are quickly absorbed and contribute to the health of the immune system.

Medium chain fatty acids have eight to twelve carbon atoms and are present mostly in butterfat and tropical oils. For example coconut oil is in this category and has antimicrobial qualities as well. Coconut oil is protective against pathogenic bacteria, yeast and viruses in the gut. This is very important for the health of the immune system, of which 80% resides in the gut.

Long chain fatty acids have fourteen to eighteen carbons and can be saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. Examples are stearic acid which is an eighteen carbon saturated fat found in beef tallow. Oleic acid is an eighteen chain monounsaturated fat found in olive oil. GLA (gamma-linolenic acid) is also in this category. This oil is found in evening primrose, borage and black current seed oil.

Very long chain fatty acids have twenty to twenty-four carbons atoms. These oils are highly unsaturated, the most well known being EPA (eicosapentanoic acid) and DHA (docosahexananoic acid). These are essential, that is, we must get these from our diet.

Most of the polyunsaturated fatty acids are omega 6 fats, found in commercial vegetable oils. These tend to be out of balance with the omega 3 fats found in eggs, fish and meat, especially when the animals are grassfed. In our culture today, most people get much too much omega 6 as compared to omega 3. This imbalance disrupts prostaglandin production and this in turn drives inflammation, high blood pressure, irritation of the GI tract, depressed immune function, and cancer.

There are many ways that modern food production has decreased the omega 3 fats from our diet. For instance, in order to increase shelf life, food manufacturers actually remove omega 3 from grains, which then make the grains high in omega 6. These same grains are fed to the cows that give us milk and meat. Studies show that the meat from grain fed cows can have ratios of omega 6 to omega 3 as high as 20:1, 30:1 or even 50:1 in favor of omega 6! Compare that to the meat from grassfed cows which show ratios of 2:1, a much healthier ratio. This is a very serious health risk and there are many studies that show this. For example, a Korean study found that the ratios of serum omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids were highly indicative of prostate cancer risk. The researchers concluded that omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids have a tumor-promoting effect while omega-3 acids have a protective effect.

There is another problem associated with overconsumption of omega-6 fatty acids such as found in vegetable oils– the accumulation of NEFAs (non-esterified fatty acids) in the blood. Studies have found that NEFAs are implicated not just as a primary risk factor in sudden heart attacks, but they are implicated in the onset of cancer as well. In other words, virtually every single bottled vegetable oil and processed food you buy in the supermarket (excluding extra virgin olive oil) should be considered a health threat.

So here are the recommendations for using fats in cooking and preparing meals:

High Heat: Use saturated fats like beef tallow, chicken fat, duck and goose fat and lard from pastured animals.

Medium Heat: butter, ghee, coconut oil and other tropical oils, sesame oil (this oil has a high amount of omega 6, so use sparingly)

Low Heat: extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil (avocado oil actually has a high smoke point, but I like to use it in mayonnaise and salad dressings).

Refrigerate: flax seed oil, cod liver oil (these are medicinal oils and should never be heated).

Stay tuned for the  next installment of The Fat Connection. I will be discussing the benefits of grassfed animals.

Resources for this article:

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig

Fat, An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient with Recipes by Jennifer McLagan

This post is linked to: Real Food Wednesday, Gluten-Free Wednesday, Full Plate Thursday, Frugal Follies, Simple Lives Thursday, Food Trip Friday, Fresh Bites Friday, Fight Back Friday, Friday Favorites, Fat Camp Friday, Fun with Food Friday, My Sweet and Savory, Midnight Maniac. Melt in MouthMonday, Mangia Monday, Monday Mania, Mouthwatering Monday, Tuesday Night Supper Club, Made Form Scratch Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday Parade of Foods, Tasty Tuesday, What’s Cooking Wednesday, What’s on the Menu

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Leave a Comment

  • Randy April 6, 2011, 9:26 am

    Thanks for sharing this information. I found it very informative and especially the data on which oils to use in cooking (varying temperatures). By the way, I have really enjoyed ALL of your articles on the Food Forager blog.

    Reply
    • Jill April 6, 2011, 9:42 am

      Hi Randy,
      Many thanks for your kind words!It;s very nice to get such positive feedback!

      Reply
  • Karen April 6, 2011, 11:40 am

    Thanks for this post. You have a way of making it informative and practical. We will make sure we get our right fats!

    Reply
    • Jill April 6, 2011, 1:12 pm

      Hi Karen,
      Thank you so much for your kind words! The language around fats is very confusing!I’m glad this helps!

      Reply
  • Christy April 6, 2011, 10:50 pm

    It just occurred to me today why I struggled to remember which fats were good for us and which weren’t – because I was reading 2 different points of view – one in which polyunsaturated fats were good and saturated fats evil and then the opposite. This is a great post to help me remember why I eat butter and tallow and lard etc!

    Reply
    • Jill April 6, 2011, 11:13 pm

      Hi Christie,
      I’m so glad this helped. Enjoy.

      Reply
  • Miz Helen April 7, 2011, 2:09 pm

    Hi Jill,
    I was very excited to see your part II of this series on Fat. I really enjoyed the article and found it very helpful. Thank you so much for sharing this with Full Plate Thursday and hope to see you next week!

    Reply
    • Jill April 7, 2011, 2:24 pm

      Hi Miz Helen,
      Thank you for your kind words.

      Reply
  • Dana @ Budget Dietitian April 7, 2011, 9:21 pm

    Hello Jill-
    As a registered dietitian, I agree wholeheartly with your assessment of fats. Omega-6s are indeed a large problem.

    My concern is with replacing omega 6 fats with saturated fats. Certainly numerous research indicates that a Mediterrean diet that is low in saturated fats and high in olive oil and plants while balancing with increased omega 3 fatty acids from fish decreased early death risk by 50% while also reducing depression, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

    What are your thoughts on the Mediterrean diet?

    Reply
    • damaged justice April 8, 2011, 8:22 am

      Why do you believe saturated fat is something to be avoided?

      Reply
    • Jill April 8, 2011, 1:11 pm

      Hi Dana,
      Thanks for your comments. It is has been documented that certain Mediterranean societies (Crete is one) also eat saturated fat from lamb, sausage and goat cheese and have low rates of heart disease. In addition, keep in mind that all fats are a composition of various fatty acids. For example, lard is 40% saturated and 48% monounsaturated (just like olive oil). Beef tallow is 55% saturated and 40% monounsaturated. Coconut oil is 92% saturated and these are medium chain fatty acids with extraordinary health benefits. Also, the saturated fats I emphasize are coming from pastured animals who live a good life and eat the food that they were designed to eat. I hope this helps. I will be posting much more about fats in the near future so stay tuned!

      Reply
  • Amy Love @ Real Food Whole Health April 8, 2011, 7:48 pm

    Right on! Thanks for sharing with Fresh Bites Friday. By the way- where do you live? I get Paradise Pastures too- are you in PA or up in the Northeast? We’re in CT! Maybe we’re “neighbors”!

    Reply
    • Jill April 8, 2011, 8:34 pm

      Hi Amy,
      Thanks for your comments. I am in Suffolk County Long Island. I’m a chapter leader of the Great South Bay WAPF. We share the LI Sound so I guess we are neighbors! Cool!
      I love your blog!

      Reply
  • renee@mykitchenadventures April 8, 2011, 7:54 pm

    Hi! loved to learn all the chemistry behind fats! Found it very interesting!

    Reply
    • Jill April 8, 2011, 8:35 pm

      HI Renee,
      Thanks for your kind words!

      Reply
  • kristin April 11, 2011, 5:15 pm

    i took a nutrition class last semester that was eye-opening. people always talk about how terrible fat is, when really, there are specific fats that are terrible, and others that are quite beneficial. same goes for carbohydrates. the people who go on carb-free diets don’t realize that they need at least 500 calories from carbs per day for their brains to function correctly. it’s all a balancing act and knowing what types of foods are good for your body.

    Reply
    • Jill April 11, 2011, 6:11 pm

      Hi Kristen,
      The conventional mantra is low fat low fat. But we really do need the correct fats. We can actually live quite well on a low carb diet — people forget that fruits and vegetables are also carbs.

      Reply
  • Magi April 13, 2011, 8:16 am

    Thanks for writing this. I often use extra virgin olive oil and sesame oil in my cooking and I tend to avoid using saturated fats like duck fat…

    Reply
    • Jill April 13, 2011, 11:09 am

      Hi Magi,
      I use sesame oil for cooking, but try not to use olive oil for heated dishes. Sometimes I just gently saute already cooked veges on a low heat in extra virgin olive oil and garlic.

      Reply
  • Sheree April 16, 2011, 11:09 pm

    Thanks for citing your sources. Wish more people did that.

    Reply
    • Jill April 17, 2011, 11:16 am

      Hi Sheree,
      I think it is very important to back up what you say.

      Reply
  • Judy @Savoring Today July 2, 2013, 11:18 am

    Excellent and concise. Thanks for another great article I can pass along to my readers and friends. 🙂 — And thanks for sharing on Hearth & Soul Hop!

    Reply
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