iBodybuilding.net

Keep Saturated Fat Lower than Polyunsaturated Fat

A new study on saturated fat and heart disease is sure to stir the pigeons from the roost. If you follow the nutritional side of things, you will know that it is somewhat fashionable on weight training sites and blogs to claim that saturated fat is not associated with heart disease. A new study seems to confirm that technical appraisal. Saturated fats are found most in animal foods like fatty meats and full-fat dairy products and tropical oils like coconut and palm. Siri-Tarino PW, Sun Q, Hu FB, Krauss RM. Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Jan 13. (Study supported by the National Dairy Council.) The authors say: ". . . there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD." This means that lower or higher intakes seemed to be associated with the same amount of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease and stroke. There was no increase in these diseases as the amount of saturated fat consumed, increased. But wait; the authors did not say that you could not improve on this by adjusting dietary fat intake. In the discussion section of the study paper, the authors also say: "Inverse associations of polyunsaturated fat and CVD risk have previously been reported. Replacement of 5% of total energy from saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat has been estimated to reduce CHD risk by 42%. Notably, the amount of dietary polyunsaturated fat in relation to saturated fat (ie, the P: S ratio) has been reported to be more significantly associated with CVD than saturated fat alone, with a reduced CHD risk found with P:S ratios of > 0.49 . . ." Polyunsaturated fats are mostly vegetable seed oils like canola and sunflower oils and margarines, and fish oils. Eating the same amount of polyunsaturated fat as saturated fat would give you a ratio of 1:1 (better than 0.49). How should you react to this study, considering that health authorities have for decades been telling us to reduce our consumption of saturated fat? Nothing much has changed. Clearly, some intake of saturated fat is not hazardous as long as the rest of your diet is in good shape. Nuts and peanuts and seed oils have some saturated fat and yet these are known to be heart healthy, probably because they contain more polyunsaturated fats (PUFA) than saturated fat. If you consume polyunsaturated fats by eating plenty of nuts and seeds and fatty fish, and use a little PUFA oil in cooking, and try to keep your polyunsaturated fat intake above saturated fat, then you are probably on the right track. If you're trying to keep the total fat low in a weight-loss program, and you're into numbers, you might aim for 7% saturated fat, 10% PUFA, and 8% monounsaturated fat (MUFA) that features in olive oil. You might even be tempted by a small piece of Blue Castello cheese. Will the fun never stop?Keep Saturated Fat Lower than Polyunsaturated Fat originally appeared on About.com Weight Training on Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 00:08:20.Permalink | Comment | Email this
Read more at weighttraining.about.com