Repost: The oiling of America Part 4 (Cholesterol)

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http://www.westonaprice.org/know_your_fats/oiling4.html

 

Part 4

Benefits of animal fats

Foods containing trans fat sell because the American public is afraid

of the alternative—saturated fats found in tallow, lard, butter, palm

and coconut oil, fats traditionally used for frying and baking. Yet

the scientific literature delineates a number of vital roles for

dietary saturated fats—they enhance the immune system,54 are

necessary for healthy bones,55 provide energy and structural

integrity to the cells,56 protect the liver57 and enhance the body's

use of essential fatty acids.58 Stearic acid, found in beef tallow

and butter, has cholesterol lowering properties and is a preferred

food for the heart.59 As saturated fats are stable, they do not

become rancid easily, do not call upon the body's reserves of

antioxidants, do not initiate cancer, do not irritate the artery

walls.

 

Your body makes saturated fats, and your body makes cholesterol—about

2000 mg per day. In general, cholesterol that the average American

absorbs from food amounts to about 100 mg per day. So, in theory,

even reducing animal foods to zero will result in a mere 5% decrease

in the total amount of cholesterol available to the blood and

tissues. In practice, such a diet is likely to deprive the body of

the substrates it needs to manufacture enough of this vital

substance; for cholesterol, like saturated fats, stands unfairly

accused. It acts as a precursor to vital corticosteroids, hormones

that help us deal with stress and protect the body against heart

disease and cancer; and to the sex hormones like androgen,

testosterone, estrogen and progesterone; it is a precursor to vitamin

D, a vital fat-soluble vitamin needed for healthy bones and nervous

system, proper growth, mineral metabolism, muscle tone, insulin

production, reproduction and immune system function; it is the

precursor to bile salts, which are vital for digestion and

assimilation of fats in the diet. Recent research shows that

cholesterol acts as an antioxidant.60 This is the likely explanation

for the fact that cholesterol levels go up with age. As an

antioxidant, cholesterol protects us against free radical damage that

leads to heart disease and cancer. Cholesterol is the body's repair

substance, manufactured in large amounts when the arteries are

irritated or weak. Blaming heart disease on high serum cholesterol

levels is like blaming firemen who have come to put out a fire for

starting the blaze.

 

Cholesterol is needed for proper function of serotonin receptors in

the brain.61 Serotonin is the body's natural " feel-good " chemical.

This explains why low cholesterol levels have been linked to

aggressive and violent behavior, depression and suicidal tendencies.

 

Mother's milk is especially rich in cholesterol and contains a

special enzyme that helps the baby utilize this nutrient. Babies and

children need cholesterol-rich foods throughout their growing years

to ensure proper development of the brain and nervous system. Dietary

cholesterol plays an important role in maintaining the health of the

intestinal wall,62 which is why low-cholesterol vegetarian diets can

lead to leaky gut syndrome and other intestinal disorders.

 

Animal foods containing saturated fat and cholesterol provide vital

nutrients necessary for growth, energy and protection from

degenerative disease. Like sex, animal fats are necessary for

reproduction. Humans are drawn to both by powerful instincts.

Suppression of natural appetites leads to weird nocturnal habits,

fantasies, fetishes, bingeing and splurging.

 

Animal fats are nutritious, satisfying and they taste good. " Whatever

is the cause of heart disease, " said the eminent biochemist Michael

Gurr in a recent article, " it is not primarily the consumption of

saturated fats. " 63 And yet the high priests of the lipid hypothesis

continue to lay their curse on the fairest of culinary pleasures—

butter and Bernaise, whipped cream, souffles and omelets, full-bodied

cheeses, juicy steaks and pork sausage.

 

Coming full circle—And yet, learning nothing

On April 30, 1996 a senior researcher named David Kritchevsky

received the American Oil Chemists' Society's Research Award in

recognition of his accomplishments as a " researcher on cancer and

atherosclerosis as well as cholesterol metabolism. " His

accomplishments include co-authorship of more than 370 research

papers, one of which appeared a month later in the American Journal

of Clinical Nutrition.64 " Position paper on trans fatty acids "

continued the debate on trans fats that began in the same journal

with Hunter and Applewhite's 1986 attack on Enig's research. " A

controversy has arisen about the potential health hazards of trans

unsaturated fatty acids in the American diet, " wrote Kritchevsky and

his coauthors.

 

Actually the controversy dates back to 1954. In the rabbit studies

that launched Kritchevsky on his career, the researcher actually

found that cholesterol fed with Wesson oil " markedly accelerated " the

development of cholesterol-containing low-density lipoproteins; and

cholesterol fed with shortening gave cholesterol levels twice as high

as cholesterol fed alone.65 Enig's work—and that of Kummerow and Mann

and several others—merely confirmed what Kritchevsky ascertained

decades ago but declined to publicize, that vegetable oils, and

particularly partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, are bad news.

 

But the " Position paper on trans fatty acids " took no position at

all. Studies have given contradictory results, said the authors, and

the amount of trans in the average American diet is very difficult to

determine. As for labeling, " There is no clear choice of how to

include trans fatty acids on the nutrition label. The database is

insufficient to establish a classification scheme for these fats. "

There may be problems with trans, says the senior researcher, but

their use " helps to reduce the intake of dietary fats higher in

saturated fatty acids. Also, vegetable fats are not a source of

dietary cholesterol, unlike saturated animal fats. " Kritchevsky and

his coauthors conclude that physicians and nutritionists

should " focus on a further decrease in total fat intake and

especially the intake of saturated fat. . . A reduction in total fat

intake simplifies the problem, because all fats in the diet decrease

and choices are unnecessary. " However, even senior scientists find

that fence straddling is necessary. " We may conclude, " wrote

Kritchevsky and his colleagues, " that consumption of liquid vegetable

oils is preferable to solid fats. "

 

Footnote:

 

Early this year, 1998, a symposium entitled " Evolution of Ideas about

the Nutritional Value of Dietary Fat " reviewed the many flaws in the

lipid hypothesis and highlighted a study in which mice fed purified

diets died within 20 days but whole milk kept the mice alive for

several months.66 One of the participants was David Kritchevsky who

noted that the use of low-fat diets and drugs in intervention

trials, " did not affect overall CHD mortality. " Ever with a finger in

the wind, this influential Founding Father of the lipid hypothesis

concluded thus: " Research continues apace and, as new findings

appear, it may be necessary to reevaluate our conclusions and

preventive medicine policies. "

 

 

© 1999 Mary G. Enig, PhD and Sally Fallon.

First published in Nexus Magazine,

Dec '98-Jan '99 and Feb '99-Mar '99.

 

 

Mary G. Enig, Ph.D. is an expert of international renown in the field

of lipid biochemistry. She has headed a number of studies on the

content and effects of trans fatty acids in America and Israel, and

has successfully challenged government assertions that dietary animal

fat causes cancer and heart disease. Recent scientific and media

attention on the possible adverse health effects of trans fatty acids

has brought increased attention to her work. She is a licensed

nutritionist, certified by the Certification Board for Nutrition

Specialists, a qualified expert witness, nutrition consultant to

individuals, industry and state and federal governments, contributing

editor to a number of scientific publications, Fellow of the American

College of Nutrition and President of the Maryland Nutritionists

Association. She is the author of over 60 technical papers and

presentations, as well as a popular lecturer. Dr. Enig is currently

working on the exploratory development of an adjunct therapy for AIDS

using complete medium chain saturated fatty acids from whole foods.

She is the mother of three healthy children brought up on whole foods

including butter, cream, eggs and meat.

 

Sally Fallon is the author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook

that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats

(with Mary G. Enig, PhD), as well as of numerous articles on the

subject of diet and health. She is President of the Weston A Price

Foundation and founder of A Campaign for Real Milk. She is the mother

of four healthy children raised on whole foods including butter,

cream, eggs and meat.

 

 

References