Should We Consume Saturated Fats? Is It Good Or Bad?

A saturation of a fatty acid (saturated, unsaturated, polyunsaturated) solely refers to the presence of double bonds in the fatty acid chain.Saturated fats are 'saturated' with hydrogen atoms and have no double bonds (thus forming a straight chain) whereas monounsaturated have one double bond and polyunsaturated have many (causing bending in the structure).Saturated fats can be divided according to the size of a chain as a short chain, medium chain, long chain and very long chain.We've been told that saturated fat is unhealthy. It is claimed to raise cholesterol levels and give us heart attacks.Due to its association mostly with fast foods, saturated fats are sometimes called as bad fat.Foods high in saturated fat are full-fat dairy products like butter and cream, lard, coconut oil, ghee (clarified butter), palm oil, and dark chocolate.There is no food with pure saturated or mono/polyunsaturated fats but a combination of these different fats either more or less in composition wise. 

What made saturated fat dangerous?

Heart disease was not much known until late 20th century when it became a major issue in America as cases of heart disease increased many folds.Saturated fat is mostly looked in regards to its influence on heart disease through interacting with cholesterol.This led to the origin of “diet-heart hypothesis”. This hypothesis was based on assumptions, observational data and animal studies.The assumptions made were if saturated fat raises cholesterol and cholesterol causes heart disease, then this concludes that saturated fat causes heart disease.Before even been proven to be true this hypothesis became dogma in 1977.Many meta-analyses have been done to investigate the effect of saturated fats on heart health but there is not much effective evidence which shows saturated fat increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.Even after proving this assumption to be wrong, people are still being told to avoid saturated fat in order to reduce cardiovascular risk. 

Raising LDL and HDL Cholesterol

We must know the fact that the so-called HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (bad cholesterol), aren't actually cholesterol, they are lipoproteins that carry cholesterol around.The term "Total cholesterol” is highly flawed marker because it also includes HDL. So having a high HDL actually contributes to a high "Total" cholesterol.Since saturated fat raised LDL levels, it appeared to be logical to expect this would expand the danger of heart disease. But scientists ignored the fact that consuming saturated fat also led to increase in HDL level.Now the new research has shown that LDL isn't necessarily "bad" because there are different subtypes of LDL.The first one is Small, dense LDL which are small lipoproteins that can penetrate the arterial wall easily, thereby increasing the chances of heart disease.The other one is Large LDL, these lipoproteins are large and cottony which don't easily penetrate the arteries.The small dense particles are also much more susceptible to becoming oxidized, which is a crucial step in the heart disease process.People with mostly small LDL particles can increase their risk of heart disease threefold as compared to people with large LDL particles.It is being researched that eating saturated fat changes the LDL particles from small, dense to Large, thereby reducing its threat.Now scientists have realized that it's not just about the LDL concentration or the size of the particles, but the number of LDL particles (known as LDL-p) floating in the bloodstream.Benefits: Saturated fats are equally essential for our body. Half of our cell membrane structures are made up of fats. sixty percent of our brain is made of fats and half of that fats are saturated fats.Saturated fats also contain vitamin D, vitamin K and vitamin A, all essential micronutrients we need to regulate our body metabolism and live healthily.It is Fantastic for the immune system, has anti-viral properties and good for acne. Our bone also requires fatty acid for calcium metabolism.Although not every saturated fat type have same effects on our body like how some polyunsaturated fats (omega3) have different effects than other polyunsaturated fats (omega6).Effect on weight: Its diet which affects our weight by a huge margin. Saturated fat appears to be associated with less hunger and more satiating when compared to PUFA and MUFA.Neuropeptide YY is a hormone which suppresses appetite and fats play a major role in increasing it as compared to protein and carbs.So, when compared to MUFAs, saturated fats seem to increase neuropeptide YY much more, thus reducing our hunger.Hormones: Saturated fats are hormone precursors; they are the building blocks to make hormone. They are essential to building hormones like cortisol, estrogen, testosterone.When putting men on a low-fat diet it has been noticed that circulating androgens level has decreased whereas higher fat diet at 41% of calories, with a higher intake of saturated fat, have shown to increase testosterone. 

Saturated Fat is Excellent for Cooking

Saturated fats are excellent for cooking. Because of lack of double bonds, saturated fats are highly resistant to heat-induced damage.Polyunsaturated fats, on the other hand, easily oxidize when they're heated.Saturated fats cannot be oxidized! Rancid, oxidized vegetable oils are low in nutrition and high in free radicals that scavenge the body and steal electrons from healthy cells, causing damage.This is why it's important to have quality vegetable oils such as cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil in a dark container and eat more saturated fats instead. 

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