Keto Info Week 4/20

[spEEdfrEEk]

CATEGORY: foods/manmade

TECHNICAL: ***

SUMMARY:

This is the third and final part of the interview with

Mary Enig on the subject of trans-fats and denatured oils. As

I have previously indicated, this is one of the most telling

documents on the topic. There are many important issues she

addresses that ties together the whole concept of human evolution,

health and denatured, man-made foods.

Some key points to consider in this segment of

the document are these:

* We have let our natural diet be changed by processed food technology.

* European has decided to limit TFAs to four percent of the

energy source.

* historically no people had a high intake of polyunsaturates in their

diets. Mostly saturated animal fats..

* children are being encouraged to drink low-fat milk instead of whole

milk. In addition to the fact that, there are a number of components

in mothers milk that are anti-cancer (hence the budwig diet, and

the new research on human milk fighting cancer)

* properties and some of the fatty acids found in milk (and coconut oil)

have anti-microbial properties.

* the FDA is running with misinformation a lot of the time. But, if it

suits their agenda, they will vigorously use it.

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PART III A Perspective on Fats and the Health Food Industry

by Richard A. Passwater, Ph.D.

In the two previous issues, Dr. Enig and I have been discussing how

the trans fatty acids formed upon the partial hydrogenation of vegetable

and marine oils are being shown to be more harmful than saturated fats.

Margarine and other processed foods rich in Trans Fatty Acids (TFAs) were

once touted to be healthy choices for good diets, but now many researchers

are recognizing that TFAs are more harmful than the natural butter and

animal or tropical fats they replaced.

We discussed how the processed food industry tried to cover up this

fact. As Rodney Leonard discusses in Nutrition Week, "The reputation that

[hydrogenated] vegetable oil as the fat of choice in a healthy diet lies

in ruins. And the real question is why the American health establishment

did not act sooner to correct what may be the biggest scam ever

perpetuated in nutrition and nutrition policy on the American

public...These trans fatty acids were found to not only have more severe

health consequences for persons at risks for heart disease, but also to

increase the risk for individuals prone to certain types of cancer." [28]

We have let our natural diet be changed by processed food technology.

The European Community has decided to limit TFAs to four percent of the

energy source. Unfortunately, as Dr. Enig has shown, the American diet is

closer to 10 - 14 percent, with some individuals consuming as much as 60

grams of TFAs daily. Let's continue to look into the trumped-up reasons

given to us by food processors as why we should switch to TFAs, and then

see what the truth is.

Passwater: Some "authorities" are implying that all saturated fats or

animal fats greatly increase LDL cholesterol by shutting down LDL receptor

production which consequently causes LDL cholesterol to build up in the

blood, while they are also implying that all polyunsaturated fats or

vegetable fats either lower LDL cholesterol or raise it only modestly.

Would you share with us your perspective of what we can accept as

fact about saturated fat, monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats and

TFAs with respect to blood cholesterol?

Enig: This is a complex subject, that is difficult to explain in a

few words, but I'll try to be brief. The current dogma on the effect of

saturated fatty acids on LDL and LDL receptors is really an issue that is

not satisfactorily clear-cut. It is not surprising that feeding different

proportions of different fatty acids have different effects in different

animals and different organ systems or tissues. Fatty acids are active

components in regulating all sorts of homeostatic mechanisms in mammalian

systems. But sometimes some of the basic research that identifies what is

happening to one part of the cell does not really show what is going on in

another part of the cell or in the whole person, and these reports have to

be interpreted carefully.

I am concerned about the inconsistencies in interpreting the

research. One example of such inconsistency can be seen when you compare

some of the research with recent reviews. In a section of a 1980 report

that measured the effect of dietary fats on LDL- cholesterol in humans, i.

e., the effect of saturated and polyunsaturated dietary fat on the

composition of LDL, the total cholesterol in LDL from feeding saturated

fat was 59.1% (balanced is phospholipid and triglyceride) and the total

cholesterol in LDL from feeding polyunsaturated fat was 59.5%. Not very

different and certainly not higher than from saturated fat! These data are

from the research of Dr. Antonio M. Gotto's group at Baylor College of

Medicine. [29]

Given these findings, I have some real problems with the unreferenced

or inappropriately-referenced statements in, for example, the recent

chapter on regulation of LDL-cholesterol levels that appeared in the 1993

Annual Reviews of Nutrition. The statement was made that "... {fats}

containing predominantly saturated fatty acids further increase the

concentration of cholesterol carried in [the LDL] fraction ..." and that

"... when fed at equal levels, saturated fatty acids are more active in

increasing the LDL-C concentration than are unsaturated lipids in reducing

the concentration." There was no reference given for the first part of the

statement; the references for the latter part (a 1957 paper by Dr. Ancel

Keys et al and a 1989 talk by Dr. Mark Hegsted) are really inappropriate

in my opinion.

Passwater: I see that you still tell it like it is. My next question

won't be of interest to most of our readers, but I have to ask it because

it will be important to other researchers. So readers please hang on for a

brief moment while I get a tad technical, and then well get to the

practical "take home" message.

Dr. Enig, how about the LDL-receptor?

Enig: Briefly, so much of the research on down regulation of the

LDL-receptor appears to be done on cells like fibroblasts which are

questionably appropriate. One report showed that down regulation of

LDL-receptors by saturated fatty acids was considered a good phenomenon

since the cell was a macrophage. In addition, any of the changes that are

occurring in response to short-term feeding that are likely to be

rearrangements of homeostatic mechanisms don't mean very much. I know that

many feeding studies have been purposely cut off after a short term so

that it would show something that would not show up in the long term.

As I said, I think this very complex area probably needs a whole

article that delves into the meaning of the inconsistencies. Many people

have interpreted these reports as meaning that people should avoid

saturated fatty acids and consume more polyunsaturated fatty acids. It is

important to know that historically no people had a high intake of

polyunsaturates in their diets. This is really a phenomenon of the present

century, and the evidence against the excess intake of polyunsaturates is

mounting.

Passwater: Its ironical -- animal fats have been blamed for the

damage caused by partially-hydrogenated oils -- which started out as

wholesome vegetable oils -- that is, until they were chemically altered by

man. I can't help but think about so many in the general public who are

not scientifically trained and who have been brain-washed by the countless

illegal commercials that promise that using margarine will protect them

from heart disease. These people don't even read the newspaper accounts

such as the report from Harvard that margarine actually is associated with

increased heart disease and heart disease death. In the Harvard study of

85,000 nurses, after adjusting for all known possible confounding factors

including total fat and total calorie intake, there was a fifty percent

greater incidence of heart disease among those women with consuming the

highest fifth of percentage of fats as TFAs compared to those in the

lowest fifth. [3] Since all other factors, including total fat and total

calories were compensated for, the researchers conservatively concluded,

"these findings support the hypothesis that consumption of

partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil may contribute to occurrence of

coronary heart disease."

Then there is the recent report in the American Journal of Clinical

Nutrition that found that the risk of coronary heart disease increases as

consumption of vegetable oil rises. [30]

However, the years of newspaper, magazine and TV ads that falsely

told them that margarine was good for the heart -- has made them think

that it was true.

Now we are learning that mothers are giving their children soda or

skim milk with their meals so as to avoid the fat in milk. They want to

protect their children against heart disease by giving them very low fat

diets in their youth. What effect is the fear of saturated fat having on

the health of our children?

Enig: It is really unfortunate that children are being encouraged to

drink low-fat milk instead of whole milk. In addition to the fact that

milk is a good source of calories for growth (children actually need fat

as an energy reserve so that the protein they are consuming can be well

utilized for growth), there are a number of components in milk that are

not widely appreciated. Milk fat globule membrane has anti-cancer

properties and some of the fatty acids found in milk (and coconut oil)

have anti-microbial properties.

Passwater: I am seeing reports that there appears to be a link

between TFAs and obesity? Dr. Lewis H. Kuller has made such comments in

Lancet, and Drs. Edward Siguel and Robert Lerman have indicated such a

possible link in the American Journal of Cardiology. [31,32] I have also

read discussions where TFAs have been called "the obesity trigger."

Enig: There was a report earlier this year at a major symposium on

obesity that was held in New York, that the metabolic effect of increasing

dietary TFAs changes characteristics of muscle cells that trigger the

onset of diabetes and increasing obesity. I have not seen the actual

research, but am looking forward to following it.

Passwater: Dr Enig, many of our readers are hearing about trans fats

for the first time. Others may not be sure of what your message is

regarding red meat, animal fat and vegetable oil. Would you give us a

"take home" perspective regarding your advice on dietary fats?

Enig: The important thing to understand is that all fats are

basically mixtures of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty

acids in different proportions. There isn't any real evidence that

everyone needs to consume exactly the same balance of fatty acids, except

that we do know that people need to take in at least 2-3% of their fat as

the omega-6 fatty acids and at least 1-1.5% of their fat as omega-3 fatty

acids. This means that smaller people expending fewer calories need fewer

calories of each fatty acid and total fats than larger or more active

people who consume more calories.

The fats that humans have consumed for millennia, such as the fats

they added to mixed dishes, were almost always more saturated than they

were unsaturated. It was the easily extractable fat or oil. The fat came

from the animal, or, in the case of areas such as the tropics, it was the

oil that came from the coconut or the palm fruit that was used in cooking.

Sometimes it was one of the very stable oils such as olive oil or sesame

paste that contained lots of built-in antioxidants and weren't too

polyunsaturated.

People didn't really have the ability to extract oil from vegetables

such as corn, or from many seeds as they do today. However, they got their

essential polyunsaturated fatty acids from many of these plants when they

were included in the foods they were eating. People used the intact leaf,

root, nut, grain or seed along with all their antioxidants in the stews or

the porridges that most people ate. This was the manner in which the

polyunsaturates were historically consumed. The polyunsaturated fatty

acids didn't have to be hydrogenated to protect their integrity and keep

them from going rancid because they were consumed in a protected

whole-food state.

People on low-fat diets historically consumed adequate amounts of

essential fatty acids from foods such as grains, vegetables and nuts; and

then they made their own saturated fat for the necessary structural

adipose (structural body fat) and energy storage. Those people with higher

fat intakes in their diets still had about the same amount of essential

fatty acids, and ultimately the same amount of saturated fat for storage

or as the energy source. Regardless of whether they ate it or made it, the

fat in the tissues of our ancestors was relatively saturated, and

therefore, the fatty acid supply to the tissues was predictably saturated.

Today, with the high levels of partially- hydrogenated vegetable and

marine oils in the diets of many people, the tissues and organs are faced

with a new situation. Many researchers have now concluded that the

presence of the TFAs is causing shifts in favor of chronic disease. Not a

good situation!

The bottom line is to consume as many whole foods and whole food

mixtures as possible. Since we live in a society where other people

prepare most of the foods many of us eat, it is important to look for the

least processed and the least likely to go rancid when it comes to fats

and oils.

There is nothing wrong with consuming your essential fatty acids from

oils as long as those oils are safely extracted and carefully stored, but

a good balance needs to be maintained with sources of the more saturated

fats such as the animal tallows and/or dairy fats for those who are not

vegetarians, or the more saturated fats such as palm or coconut oils for

those who are vegetarians.

Passwater: These facts will be hard to accept by those who have

always heard just the opposite, and because of this constant repetition,

they have come to believe the erroneous information. While we're on the

subject of truth, let's shift gears for a moment.

You attended the Waxman hearing in July. What comments do you have to

offer about the FDA efforts to limit nutritional products and information?

Enig: One major problem as I see it is that the members of congress

and their staffs have only part of the information and almost none of the

training to understand that the FDA is running with misinformation a lot

of the time. But, if it suits their agenda, they will vigorously use it.

The supplement industry needs to be sure of its facts, needs to spend

the time and effort to document these facts. The science is on the side of

whole foods and rational supplementation. There is one thing that bothers

me; as an expert in lipids I notice mistakes in many books, magazines and

newspapers being made by "spokespersons" about the effects of fats and

oils in health. I immediately discount the reliability of source of the

information and suspect anything else that is being said. Sometimes I make

allowances and can salvage certain facts and separate the wheat from the

chaff, but others not so inclined, might not be so lenient. Since the FDA

has a very biased attitude towards the whole foods and supplement

industry, any erroneous written material that is put out by that industry

or on behalf of that industry is considered grist for the FDA's mill. I

hate to see the good apples spoiled because of the presence of a few

rotten ones.

Passwater: There is so much that needs to be covered, and we didn't

even get around to discussing omega-3 and omega-1 fatty acids. Perhaps you

will be kind enough to chat with us again. I am sure that TFAs cause

membrane abnormalities that can cause irregular heart beats and I want to

pursue the research that suggests that TFAs trigger obesity. We are going

to hear a lot more about TFAs in the future. It has taken 15 years, but I

feel that the corner has now been turned and the momentum is building. The

data can no longer be suppressed.

Your pioneering studies will have a major impact on helping people

select better diets in the future. Now the public will have to deal with

the fact that most junk foods are high in trans fat -- and this is a

deadly reality that can not be compensated for merely by juggling other

food components. Changing the ratio of polyunsaturates or saturates does

not alter or compensate for the accumulation of trans fats. People will no

longer be able to rationalize junk food as "just" being devoid of

nutrients which can be replaced with supplements. People will no longer be

able to rationalize junk food as "just" being high in fat which can be

held in check by keeping the total dietary fat to 30% or less of total

calories by selecting low-fat high-sugar foods. The reality is that there

are only two healthy choices -- either get the trans fats out of foods and

pseudo foods such as margarine -- or don't eat them. At least we can

control the latter.

Dr. Enig, what are you looking into now?

Enig: I have submitted a proposal for a research project that aims to

evaluate a specific nutritional support approach that I think will be

extremely useful for individuals with HIV/AIDS. I am currently waiting to

hear about the funding. I am presently preparing some of the research done

by our group at the University of Maryland for submission to the

appropriate scientific journals. I am also writing articles and a book

aimed at correcting a lot of the misinformation that has been written

about fats and oils. The working title of the book is "Know Your Fats: The

complete primer for understanding fats, oils and cholesterol." The book is

meant to be a comprehensive primer that would accurately explain what I

have realized most people involved in nutrition don't really understand. I

am also teaching short courses and workshops on lipids and nutrient-drug

interactions. I fell that there is a great need for people with my

training to continue to teach and consult.

Passwater: And, I am sure that you will continue to speak out for

scientific truth. I can hardly wait for your book to be published. Thanks

for taking the time to inform us about the dangers of trans fats in

processed foods. I still admire your bravery in presenting the information

in scientific forums, rather then taking the easy path of merely

researching topics that are "politically" safe and don't risk losing

funding or dirty tricks. I have always enjoyed our nutrition discussions

through the years and look forward to more of your visits to the Solgar

Nutritional Research Center.

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All rights, including electronic and print media, to this article are

copyrighted to Richard A. Passwater, Ph.D. and Whole Foods magazine (WFC

Inc.).

:cool: TJ :cool: