The Truth about Saturated Fat

This information is so important and already well researched that instead of trying to rewrite it, I wanted to share it with everyone as an excerpt taken from a book by a very knowledgeable nutritionist, Isabel De Los Rios.

By Isabel De Los Riosexcerpt from The Diet Solution Manual, pg. 43-44

Heart disease was quite rare before 1920—so rare that the electrocardiograph (which performs the test now commonly known as an electrocardiogram [ECG]), developed to diagnose coronary heart disease, was considered a waste of time and quickly rejected. Apparently, no one suffered from clogged arteries at that time. But by the mid-1950s, heart disease was the leading cause of death among Americans. Today, heart disease causes at least 40% of all deaths in the United States each year.

In “The Skinny on Fats” (www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/skinny.html; also in Fallon 2001, 5), the well-known nutritional expert Sally Fallon states that

If, as we have been told, heart disease results from the consumption of saturated fats, one would expect to find a corresponding increase in animal fat in the American diet over the same amount of time as the increase in heart disease. Actually, the converse is true. During the sixty-year period from 1910–1970, the proportion of traditional animal fat in the American diet declined from 83 percent to 62 percent, and butter consumption plummeted from eighteen pounds per person each year to four. During the past eighty years, the consumption of dietary cholesterol intake has increased only one percent.

If saturated fat consumption actually decreased, then what increased? During the same period, the average intake of dietary vegetable oils (in the form of margarine, shortening, and refined oils) increased by about 400%, and the consumption of sugar and processed foods increased by about 60% (Fallon 2001). Given these data, saturated fats apparently have been falsely accused; they are not the cause of modern disease. Unfortunately, people have been led to believe otherwise, so they try to avoid any food that contains high levels of saturated fat.

Coconut oil contains primarily saturated fat but no trans fat. It is rich in lauric acid, which is known for its antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties. Some medical doctors now recommend coconut oil as a healthy food oil. In the informative online newsletter Doctor House Call, Al Sears, M.D., states, “The saturated fat found in coconut oil is a unique fat that helps prevent heart disease, helps to build up the immune system, and does not turn into fat in your body. In fact, it helps to speed up your metabolism … helping you to burn fat and increase your energy!” (Sears no date). And Joseph Mercola, D.O., claims, “Coconut oil is truly the healthiest oil you can consume” and urges readers to try virgin coconut oil and “experience the health benefits for yourself” (Mercola no date).

The saturated fat in coconut oil (as well as in palm kernel oil) is of the medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) variety. The body digests MCFAs more easily and uses them differently than other fats. MCFAs are sent directly to the liver, where they are immediately converted into energy. In other words, the body uses the fat to make energy rather than store it (Fife 2001, 39).