Saturated Fat: Do you need to limit your intake?

Dr. Bowden is a board-certified nutritionist and author of 14 books including The Great Cholesterol Myth co-authored with cardiologist Stephen Sinatra.

I was interested to know if Dr. Bowden supported diets unlimited in saturated fat. Dr. Bowden provided key clarification when answering…

The problem isn’t with the saturation of fat, but with its toxicity.

If you consume fat from feedlot raised animals, they have received hormones, antibodies, steroids and pesticides. All of this is stored in their fat. Fat you then consume. This is not a healthy fat and in no way recommended.

Let’s look at this from another angle to ensure you understand the point Dr. Bowden is making.

Inflammation promotes degenerative diseases — Alzheimer’s, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, etc. Inflammation is tied to the relationship between omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. Omega 6 is inflammatory. Omega 3 is anti-inflammatory. You need both in your diet. You cannot simply eliminate all omega 6 fatty acids. You need an appropriate balance between omega 3 and omega 6. The current ratio, according to published research in the World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics, Vol 100, is 16:1 for most Americans. The desired, healthy ratio is between 1:1 and 4:1.

Accordingly to Dr. Bowden, this poor balance is due to the removal of saturated fats from our diets. Saturated fat is a neutral. It’s neither inflammatory, nor anti-inflammatory….as long as it is not toxic. A very small percent of the US population consumes grass-fed beef free of toxins. If you consume the standard feedlot raised beef, then no longer restricting your intake is not wise. Yes, the saturated fat itself isn’t going to lead to heart disease, but the toxins contained in that saturated fat are a big negative for your health.

So, what are some foods containing saturated fat that Dr. Bowden considers okay to eat?

• Butter: “Butter was never bad to begin with! It was banished from our tables because of our ill-advised fear of saturated fats. So we replaced it with something much worse!”
• Grass-fed beef: “Grass-fed beef contains anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids and less inflammatory omega-6s. It’s also free of hormones, a very big plus indeed.” I want to emphasize GRASS-FED beef…this is not what you typically find in your grocery store.
• Tropical oils: “When we reduced our intake of saturated fat, and replaced it with vegetable oils (corn, soy, canola, etc.), the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 in our diets became wildly out of balance. Omega 6s are the building blocks of inflammatory chemicals in our bodies, and we are consuming 6-25 times more of them than we are the anti-inflammatory omega-3s. We should substitute Malaysian palm fruit oil, which is environmentally sustainable, for some of that inflammatory omega 6 to help right the balance. Malaysian palm fruit oil won’t cause inflammation. It also won’t break down into toxic substances when you cook with it.”
  Picture the oils used frequently in restaurants right now. The oil sits in vats where it is heated to high temperatures and then reheated and reheated again, multiple times before it is swapped out for fresh oil. Many oils are not designed to work well under high temperatures, let alone sustain multiple cycles of reheating. This is creating all kinds of carcinogens per Dr. Bowden. Common vegetable oils frequently used do not stand up to frying like coconut, palm oil, and even real lard.
  Dr. Bowden is also not a supporter of canola oil, which is frequently recommended as a heart healthy option along with olive oil. He states canola oil is an example of the triumph of marketing over science. In order to produce canola oil, it has to be degummed and deodorized under high temperatures with solvents. It’s a poor oil choice, with the exception of cold-pressed canola oil from organic sources which could be used as a salad dressing.
• Egg yolks: “What a relief that you don’t have to suffer through one more tasteless egg white omelet! The advice to eat egg white omelets is way past its expiration date!”
• Dark meat poultry: “The USDA data shows that there are mere milligrams of differences in the nutritional content of white and dark meat. Just be cautious of the skin, which is calorically dense.”
• Cheese and nuts: “One ounce a day is associated with lower body mass index, so these are absolutely healthy. But they are also easy to overeat and contribute to weight gain, so just be careful about the amount you consume.”

Saturated fat behaves very differently in the body depending on the foods it is consumed with. It is not desirable to consume a diet with moderate amounts of saturated fat AND a high level of carbohydrates. Dr. Bowden states there is a reaction between the two resulting in AGES (advanced glycation end products). This leads to exactly what its’ acronym indicates – aging.

Which has Dr. Bowden found to be more metabolically damaging – saturated fat or added dietary sugars?

Sugar is more metabolically damaging without question per Dr. Bowden. He even pointed out how Alzheimer’s is now referred to as type III diabetes, which I hadn’t heard of previously. When the body is overwhelmed with sugar it becomes insulin resistant. The brain needs insulin to function. If you are insulin resistant you slide into cognitive decline. I know, not necessarily connected to our main focus of heart disease, but interesting regardless.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Health Pro for HealthCentral

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