Fats You Just Gotta Have
Despite the way people actually eat, most of us have an idea of
how we should eat. Marketers have ingeniously leveraged this
concept. For example, a group of women might be talking about
what they had for dinner the night before. One ate carrot
sticks; another had low-fat cottage cheese. But one had a four
course meal including dessert. And she did all this without any
of the guilt. How outrageous! Dessert without any guilt?
Personally I never understood the guilt part. I thought guilt
had to do with real moral issues, but that should be reserved
for another essay.
What's the point? We think we should be eating the carrot sticks
and not the dessert, but we eat the dessert. The spirit is
willing but the flesh is weak. Another example of this is we
think we should be avoiding fat but we eat it anyway. What if we
could eat all the fat we wanted? Now there is a commercial that
would sell. Well here is some news: we can have all the fat we
want. Now before you metaphorically wad up this electronic sheet
of paper and toss it into the reserved part of your hard drive
known as the recycle bin hear me out. We truly can have all the
fat we want because not all fats are the same. Early nutritional
concepts made the mistake of classifying all fats as equivalent.
But in fact there is a class of fats which are essential to
health and most of us get way too little of them. As a group
they are cleverly called essential fatty acids.
Essential fatty acids are called 'essential' for two reasons.
The first reason, as you probably have guessed, is because they
are essential to life and health. Simply put, without sufficient
essential fatty acids (EFAs) we cannot be healthy. More on this
in a moment. The second reason these fats are called 'essential'
is because our bodies cannot manufacture them. They must be
ingested through what we eat.
Fats are basically chains of carbon atoms with a little oxygen
and hydrogen at one end. Along the chain hydrogen atoms are
bound to the carbon atoms. When a fat chain contains as many
hydrogen atoms as it can hold it is said to be saturated. These
are the fats we should not eat in abundance because of their
negative impact on health, especially heart health.
When a fat chain does not contain all the hydrogen it could
possibly hold it is said to be unsaturated as in
'polyunsaturated'. Among these polyunsaturated fats is the class
known as essential fatty acids.
Some essential fatty acids are foundational to the proper
building and maintenance of the reproductive, immune and nervous
(including the brain) systems. In general EFAs are necessary for
the proper manufacture and repair of cell membranes. They aid
the cells in obtaining optimal nutrition as well as the
dispelling of harmful waste products. One primary function of
essential fatty acids is the production of prostaglandins which
are potent mediators for a diverse group of physiological
processes. These processes include, but are not limited to, the
regulation of heart rate, blood pressure, blood clotting
ability, vasoconstriction, fertility, and immune function.
Of particular interest to those of us who are parents and
grandparents are the effects of essential fatty acid
deficiencies in children and infants, (Even the ones not yet
born). EFAs are imperative for neural development and maturation
of sensory systems in these little ones. Omega-3 (a very
significant EFA) deficiencies in particular are linked to
decreased memory and mental abilities, poor vision, increased
tendency of blood clot formation, diminished immune function,
impaired membrane function, learning disorders, irregular
heartbeat and growth retardation. Infants can become omega-3
deficient because of inadequate supplies in the mother's milk as
well as infant formulas. Because of this some formula
manufactures fortify their products with omega-3 supplements.
There is a wide range of essential fatty acids which are
important to health. But there are two in particular that
deserve special attention. One was mentioned above, omega-3. The
other is omega-6. Both of these EFAs have gained the focus of
much research and have been tested in relation to a plethora of
chronic conditions. We even buy dog food fortified with DHA (an
omega-3) so our little puppy will grow up smart.
Of special concern to me are the heart health implications of
EFAs. Essential fatty acid imbalance or deficiency (especially
omega-3 and omega-6) has been linked to atherosclerosis
(hardening of the arteries), high blood pressure, sudden cardiac
death, high cholesterol and the ever popular high triglycerides.
The implication is, of course, that getting a proper balance of
certain EFAs can help alleviate many of the chronic heart issues
that plague our modern society.
But what about low-fat diets? They are still good. Normally when
we talk about low-fat we understand that to refer to eating less
saturated fat. We have become a race of fast-food junkies. The
meats used in such 'foods' are saturated fats. Diets replete
with saturated fats are destructive to health. Further
'high-fat' diets are normally low in essential fatty acids
simply because we are filling up on one type of fat leaving no
room for the other.
So I want to go on record for being an advocate of high-fat
diets. That is, diets high in essential fatty acids. The
particulars of such diets are beyond the scope of this essay.
For more information on essential fatty acids, especially in
relation to heart health, please use the links below. But
generally speaking let's salute high-fat diets for good health.
Got fat?
Essential Fatty Acids
Tri
glycerides
Omega-3
and Triglycerides