Saturated fat: nothing to worry about

The notion that saturated fat is bad for you is a myth that was debunked long ago by reputable scientists. For example, doctors representing the National Heart and Lung Institute in London concluded: “The commonly-held belief that the best diet for the prevention of coronary heart disease is one that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol is not supported by the available evidence from clinical trials…such diets do not reduce the risk of myocardial infarction or coronary or all-cause mortality.” Many other studies come to the same conclusions. Saturated fats do not clog arteries. They are either burned for fuel or stored in your fat cells. Dr. George Mann, former Director of the Framingham Heart Program calls the belief that heart disease is caused by eating saturated fats and cholesterol “the greatest biomedical error of the twentieth century.” It’s a medical reversal, yet the myth refuses to go away.

Saturated fat generally refers to fats, such as butter and animal fats, that are firm when refrigerated. Unfortunately the word “saturated” seems to imply that the fat is somehow ‘”fattier” than other types of fat. But the term simply describes the composition of the fat molecule: each carbon atom in the chain is linked to two hydrogen atoms such that the carbon is “saturated” with hydrogen atoms.

Actually, there is no such thing as a fat that is purely saturated. If there were, it would be as hard as candle wax. In fact, all fats are mixtures of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats. For example, the fat component of a porterhouse steak is 51 percent monounsaturated (like olive oil), with only 45 percent saturated. (The remaining four percent is polyunsaturated.) Likewise, lard is only 40 percent saturated fat. Olive oil is 13.7 percent saturated fat, which is why it turns cloudy when refrigerated.

Seeing saturated fats demonized in print is tiresome and annoying—not to mention wrong. What also annoys me is that labels on food products show the amount of saturated fat but not the amounts of monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats, implying that you must be on the lookout for saturated fats but need not worry about the others. The only fat you need worry about are trans-fats, which are man-made.

So grab that bacon from the supermarket shelves and live a little!

For an introduction to this blog, see I Just Say No; for a list of blog topics, click the Topics tab.