Saturated Fats – Good or Bad?

Image courtesy of phasinphoto at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Saturated fats had been present in a human diet for thousands of years. According to Paleolithic diet, early humans were hunter-gatherers, who had mainly eaten animal based foods. Meanwhile, somehow appears that the foods, we had been accustomed to throughout history, are bad for us. Namely, we were exposed to a belief that saturated fats are bad for our health. That belief has occurred as a result of the insufficiently proved study in 1977 that showed the negative effects of saturated fats on our cholesterol level. We have believed for decades that saturated fats raise the cholesterol level, thus affecting our heart in a bad way. However, many latest studies show that saturated fats do not affect LDL cholesterol or bad cholesterol. They indeed raise our cholesterol level, but only the good one. In this way, they do not harm our heart health, but even more – they protect it from a disease. On the other hand, scientists have found out that LDL particles and their size affect our heart health significantly. If the LDL particles are small and dense, there is a bigger risk for heart disease and vice versa. According to researches, saturated fats affect LDL particles in a good way, increasing their size and decreasing their density. Furthermore, a low-fat diet shows as not only ineffective but also harmful to cardiovascular health. To find out more about saturated fats and whether they are good or bad for our health, the article “Saturated Fat’s Role in Heart Disease Is a Myth, Says Heart Specialist” gives us the following explanation.

Dr. Malhotra points the finger at sugar. When you take the fat out of food, it tastes worse, so the food industry replaced the saturated fat with added sugar.

Now evidence is piling up showing that sugar could be an independent risk factor for metabolic syndrome (a cluster of conditions that includes high blood pressure, abnormal blood sugar, raised triglycerides, low cholesterol and a large waist), which is known to lead to diabetes and raised cardiovascular risks.

Another failure in the argument demonizing saturated fat is the idea that because it is energy-rich, then reducing it will reduce calorie intake. But, setting aside the fact that food producers substituted it with sugar, this argument clashes with increasing evidence to back the theory that a “calorie is not a calorie” – where that energy comes from can determine how much energy is consumed.

Additionally, scientists have revealed that people who are at low-fat diet, take statins against cholesterol and have very low cholesterol level are at the greatest risk of heart disease or stroke. Therefore, the best we can do for our health is to stick to natural food more and eat less sugar, processed foods, and refined carbohydrates.