|
|
The SATURATED FAT Controversy
Q Poisoned by pesticides in 1980, having no luck with conventional medical treatment, you soon realized your health was your own responsibility and therefore looked towards nutrition for answers. Who and what led you to recognize nutritious oils and thus prompted your research into, at that stage, the properties of freshly pressed flaxseed oil? A... I had a strong background in biological sciences, biochemistry and genetics. Since the body is made from food, food (water and air, too) should be the first place to look for solutions to physical problems (of course, there are environmental poisons, poisonous thoughts and emotions, and matters of empty-heartedness that also play a role, but I was not thinking about that at the time, and my issue was primarily physical in this case). I became focused on fats because I knew that fats and cancer have a connection. Pesticides and cancer also have a connection, and so I thought that I had cancer to look forward to. When I learned how much damage is done to oils by processing for the sake of shelf-life, and that these oils as well as their use in ‘cooking’ (frying) is associated with inflammation and cancer, I decided to develop methods for making oils with health, rather than with shelf-life, in mind. Nobody told me how to do it. I figured it out in my head and designed ways to do it, because I knew that essential fatty acids are sensitive, chemically active, easily damaged and require more care than any other essential nutrient. Making oils with health in mind required taking much better care of the seeds and oil (organic), during pressing (exclude light, oxygen and high temperature, filling, filtering, storage in the factory, transport, storage in the stores, storage in the home, and food use. I then used this method to make flax oil. Why flax? It is the richest source of omega-3s commonly available to us. Omega-3s were established as essential in 1981, the year after I was poisoned.
My timing could not have been better. I was researching fats, and I ended up being one of the first people to publicly promote the benefits of omega-3s. At that time, nobody except me was saying much about omega-3s. Now, of course, everybody is talking about them.
A... People need to understand that omega-3 and -6 are essential and must be supplied in the diet. They need to be made with health (with care, undamaged) rather than shelf-life (damaged) in mind. They need to be organic, so that they are free of pesticides and industrial toxins. Joe and Jane need to know that these two form the foundation for fat intake. Everything else they don’t need to worry about. Saturated and monounsaturated fats can be made in the body out of carbohydrates (sugars and starches), so these are not essential in the diet. Joe and Jane Doe need to know that there are foundational oils and therapeutic oils. Foundational oils come from seeds, nuts, grains, greens and fruit. They are our source of omega-3 and -6 essential fatty acids. They are foundation because, along with protein and carbohydrates, they are the major nutrients that form the foundation of our food intake. We need them in large amounts, 30g to 60g per day, depending on body weight. Optimum intake of these is about one tablespoon (15ml, 14g) per 50 pounds of body weight per day, mixed in foods, and spread out over the course of the day. This is about 25 per cent of total calories in a 2000 calorie diet. 
If we get enough omega-3 and -6 essential fatty acids from foundational oils, the body can make therapeutic oils from them. We all have the genes that make the enzymes required for this conversion. From years of experience, I recommend an optimum ratio of omega-3:omega-6 of about 2:1. I recommend an oil blend that is about 50 per cent omega-3 to 25 per cent omega-6. With that ratio and those percentages, and a good diet, conversion to therapeutic oils will be optimal. Therapeutic oils contain omega-3 essential fatty acid derivatives known as EPA and DHA. We can use 3g to 5g of these, in addition to (never instead of) our intake of foundational oils. We used to rely on fish oils for therapeutic oils, but fish come with industrial poisons (PCBs and dioxins, miniscule amounts of which can damage liver, kidney and brain; cause mutations, cancer and birth defects), and with extensive processing damage (3 to 5 per cent damaged, unnatural molecules is common, and even higher percentages of damaged molecules may be present in concentrated fish oils). These unnatural molecules never existed in nature, and therefore, life did not make a genetic program to break them down and get rid of them. As a result, they tend to accumulate in the body, and concentrate with time and up the food chain. Recently, it became clear that therapeutic omega-3s are not made by fish. Fish get them from their foods. They (especially the more difficult one to make in the body, DHA) are actually made by red-brown algae (plants) that serve as food for other creatures. These algae can be grown in a controlled environment (in tanks) to protect them from industrial poisons, and can be obtained in unrefined form, free of processing damage. 
Most people (75 to 90 per cent of the population) can make enough derivatives from foundational oils if these contain enough omega-3 and -6 essential fatty acids. Some people do better if they add therapeutic oils to their foundation. But no-one can be healthy on therapeutic oils alone. We need at least 15 per cent of our calories from fats, and can go up to 60 per cent, like the Inuit (Eskimo), provided that these oils remain undamaged by processing, are free of industrial toxins and contain enough omega-3 and -6. Inuit oils come from raw whale blubber, raw seal fat and fish. People are often told that the body cannot convert foundational essential fatty acids into therapeutic ones. There are a few problems with these statements.
Q... It is also getting more confusing when one reads that if one’s intake of EFAs is high enough, dietary saturated fats (butter, dairy fats, animal fats, tropical fats) will not have a negative effect on the body. Does that mean it cannot harm one’s health when used moderately or even excessively? And if so, how can one be sure that one has optimized the intake of EFAs? A... I have already addressed optimum intake. In my estimation, it is 15ml/50 pounds of body weight/day of the right kind of oils: made without damage, free of toxins, right ratio of omega-3 to -6, and also packaged in glass because oil swells plastics, and plastics ingredients can leach into oil faster than they even leach into water. The saturated fat question is really interesting. Saturated fats make platelets stickier (heart attack, stroke or embolism can result), and they make us more insulin-resistant (we head toward diabetes or make it worse). On the other hand, omega-3s make platelets less sticky, and they make us more insulin-sensitive. They oppose the effects of saturated fats.
Omega-3s are essential nutrients. Deficiency of omega-3s is the single most widespread essential nutrient deficiency of our time. Ninety-nine per cent of us get too little omega-3: we get only 16 per cent of the amount that people got in the year 1850; omega-3 intake was already too low at that time. My view is that if we optimize our intake of omega-3s, we do not need to fear saturated fats. They are natural and have been in our diet for thousands of years. Life knows how to use them for energy production, energy storage, and padding during winter. I make sure that I optimize my intake of omega-3 and -6 without damage and toxicity, and I thereafter eat butter and coconut fat to my heart’s content. While it might be possible to hurt myself with saturated fats after optimizing my intake of undamaged non-toxic essential fats, I would have to be really stupid and make it my goal to hurt myself with too much saturated fat. cooking/frying, and are associated with increased inflammation and increased cancer) with oils made from organically-grown seeds, unrefined, and not damaged by processing. Once we optimize our intake of both essential fatty acids and avoid damaged oils and cooking with oils, we are home free.  Q... Relating to the previous-asked question, does this statement include an excess use of polyunsaturated fats as well? A...The issue with polyunsaturated fats is that they can be healthy or toxic. Both essential fatty acids are healthy polyunsaturated fats if they have not been damaged by processing and are free of industrial poisons. Processing can damage polyunsaturated fats, including essential fatty acids and essential fatty acid derivatives. Any use of damaged and toxic polyunsaturated fats is dangerous to health. Our body needs an oil change, just like our car. We get rid of the damaged oil that can scratch pistons and cylinders, and replace it with clean oil that will not scratch and damage. It’s the same in our diet. We need to replace the toxic, damaged oils in our diet (all cooking oils except for extra virgin olive have been damaged by processing, are further damaged during cooking/frying, and are associated with increased inflammation and increased cancer) with oils made from organically-grown seeds, unrefined, and not damaged by processing. Once we optimize our intake of both essential fatty acids and avoid damaged oils and cooking with oils, we are home free.
QWhen looking at EFAs, the abbreviations EPA and DHA (eicosapentaenoic acid and doxosahexaenoic acid) spring to mind due to the excessive advertising of omega-3 (or omega-3) products and the fact that these are largely derived from marine species. The consumer is faced with the dilemma of which one is right for them - does one need a higher DHA for brain function or more EPA for the heart? Why does one need a different ratio of EPA:DHA depending on the fact that you are female, male, adult or child? A... For thousands of years, this was not an issue. Why is it an issue now? In my opinion, it is mostly marketing-driven. Even the fish oil industry only began to make this distinction recently. On the other hand, immune function makes more use of EPA. Since DHA can be converted to EPA, and since foundation omega-3s can be converted into both EPA (very effectively) and DHA (less effectively), there is a high degree of interchangeability between them. There is research that shows that ALA (sometimes abbreviated as LNA), the foundational omega-3, has heart health and bone strength benefits independent of whether it is converted into EPA or DHA. It is confusing. Always, the first order of the day is to get the foundation built properly. When this is done, nothing else may be needed. One can then play with subtleties. A small percentage of the population will do better adding one or another of the therapeutic concoctions out there. I use unrefined red-brown algae oil, because it is not damaged and free of poisons. I do not use or recommend fish oils of any kind, because the damage done to them is not admitted to by manufacturers.
Q...What is the earliest age and how important is it to introduce EFAs in a child’s diet? A ... Three years before they are conceived, and it is really important. One researcher told me that mothers deficient in EFAs can still show signs of that deficiency in their offspring as long as three years after it is fixed. EFAs are extremely important during pregnancy and breast-feeding, and after that, in the infant’s foods. Since they cannot be made in the body of the mother or the fetus/infant/ child, omega-3s must be present in optimum amounts in the food supply, if optimum development of brain and eyes is the goal. Most women (99 per cent or even higher) don’t get enough omega-3s. Women are set up for these conditions by child-bearing under conditions of inadequate EFAs in their food supply. Each child depletes the mother further, and each child gets less than the previous child. As a result, younger children in large families tend to have far more learning and developmental problems. When women optimize their intake of the foundational oils with optimums of omega-3 and -6 essential fats (but without fish oils), we have found that they have easier pregnancies, easier deliveries, more energy after giving birth, less depression and fewer memory problems. Their children are born more alert, and they show exploratory (intelligence) behavior earlier.
Q ... Shouldn’t we also look at the omega-3 plant-derived form (ALA or alpha-linolenic acid) when making the choice? Which one has the more important properties or do we look at ALA, EPA and DHA as a package deal?
The oil can be added to hot soup, steamed veggies, hot oatmeal, mashed potatoes, fruit juice, veggie juice, salad dressings, smoothies, shakes, sauces and any other food after it comes off the fire. It should never be used for frying, sautéing, deep-frying, barbecuing, or any other food preparation that results in foods turning brown (burned). Therapeutic oils, EPA and DHA, are not foundation. They are in addition, not instead of foundation. We can make them a package deal, but we don’t have to. If we have to choose one or the other (I don’t know why, but to make the priority clear), foundation must be that choice. Q ... How does one recognize the body’s need of EFAs? Any obvious symptoms? A ... The obvious signs of EFA deficiency include dry skin, poor hair and nail quality, low energy, low stamina, low mood, difficulty building muscles, slow recovery, poor wound healing, lack of motor coordination (clumsiness), lack of calmness, learning problems, dry eyes, skipped heartbeats, arthritis-like pains in joints, thin, papery skin, tissue swelling with pain, water retention, overweight (from eating more carbohydrates than we burn; My quip is "Carbs: Burn ‘em, or wear ‘em") and cravings for carbohydrates. Every cell, tissue, gland and organ requires essential fatty acids. So many people get too little, wrong ratio, damaged and toxic that it is hard to go wrong recommending them to everyone. There should be a bottle of EFA-rich oil in every refrigerator.
Q... What are the general guidelines that are safe to follow when looking at the ratio of omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids as well as the omega-3 AFA, EPA and DHA ratios? A...The optimum ‘practical’ ratio that I recommend, based on what gets the best results for building health, worked out from over 20 years of real life experience and experimentation in the real world (not a laboratory under artificial conditions) is two omega-3s to one omega-6.
Q... It is also getting more confusing when one reads that if one’s intake of EFAs is high enough, dietary saturated fats (butter, dairy fats, animal fats, tropical fats) will not have a negative effect on the body. Does that mean it cannot harm one’s health when used moderately or even excessively? And if so, how can one be sure that one has optimized the intake of EFAs? A ... I have already addressed optimum intake. In my estimation, it is 15ml/50 pounds of body weight/day of the right kind of oils: made without damage, free of toxins, right ratio of omega-3 to -6, and also packaged in glass because oil swells plastics, and plastics ingredients can leach into oil faster than they even leach into water. The saturated fat question is really interesting. Saturated fats make platelets stickier (heart attack, stroke or embolism can result), and they make us more insulin-resistant (we head toward diabetes or make it worse). On the other hand, omega-3s make platelets less sticky, and they make us more insulin-sensitive. They oppose the effects of saturated fats. The question is: Is the problem here the saturated fats, or is the problem the lack of omega-3s in our diet? Omega-3s are essential nutrients. Deficiency of omega-3s is the single most widespread essential nutrient deficiency of our time. Ninety-nine per cent of us get too little omega-3: we get only 16 per cent of the amount that people got in the year 1850; omega-3 intake was already too low at that time and are associated with increased inflammation and increased cancer) with oils made from organically-grown seeds, unrefined, and not damaged by processing. Once we optimize our intake of both essential fatty acids and avoid damaged oils and cooking with oils, we are home free.
Q ... When looking at EFAs, the abbreviations EPA and DHA (eicosapentaenoic acid and doxosahexaenoic acid) spring to mind due to the excessive advertising of omega-3 (or omega-3) products and the fact that these are largely derived from marine species. The consumer is faced with the dilemma of which one is right for them – does one need a higher DHA for brain function or more EPA for the heart? A ... Why does one need a different ratio of EPA:DHA depending on the fact that you are female, male, adult or child? A For thousands of years, this was not an issue. Why is it an issue now? In my opinion, it is mostly marketing-driven. Even the fish oil industry only began to make this distinction recently. First, getting the foundation right is the place to start. After that, one can play with the different therapeutic concoctions to see if one notices any subjective differences or whether there are objectively measured changes. Brain development and brain function, as well as sperm formation and heart. My view is that if we optimize our intake of omega-3s, we do not need to fear saturated fats. They are natural and have been in our diet for thousands of years. Life knows how to use them for energy production, energy storage, and padding during winter. I make sure that I optimize my intake of omega-3 and -6 without damage and toxicity, and I thereafter eat butter and coconut fat to my heart’s content. While it might be possible to hurt myself with saturated fats after optimizing my intake of undamaged non-toxic essential fats, I would have to be really stupid and make it my goal to hurt myself with too much saturated fat.
Q ... Now that I am convinced that I should be taking an omega supplement, there seems to be another decision to be made – which option is the better one to take: as an organic food source, as an oil or in capsule form? And why? A ... Organic, no question, because many of our most poisonous poisons are oil-soluble: many pesticides, like 2,4-D, 2,4,5,T, Agent Orange, (DDT and many others banned here, but still sold in other countries), PCBs, dioxins, furans, plastics, cosmetics, drugs, and many other industrial chemicals. Oil, no question, because oils are major nutrients. One tablespoon is 14g and I use four tablespoons in winter, which would be 56 capsules. Encapsulation is expensive, making the oil in capsule three times more costly than in bottles. Capsules are better than nothing while traveling, but at home oil in bottles makes more sense.
Q ... Surely eating fish (any fresh fish) with green leafy veggies followed by a handful of nuts twice or three times a week should provide one with all the EFAs needed, shouldn’t it? A ... It’s not quite that easy. Low fat fish such as cod, snapper, tropical fish (I don’t’ mean in the fish tank, but in tropical waters), halibut, red-meat tuna, swordfish, and many more contain very little fat, only about 1 per cent. The livers of these fish contain about 8 per cent fat, and the liver contains more oil-soluble toxins than any other tissue in the body. The ‘fatty’ northern fish that contain 8-15 per cent body fat include salmon, herring, trout, eel, sardines, and albacore (white meat) tuna. Seal and whale are also high fat. These contain a lot of oil-soluble toxins now. The higher they are on the food chain, the more toxins they contain. Fish don’t sweat, so they cannot get rid of these oil-soluble toxins like we can. Green leafy veggies contain good fats, but very little. I like doing math, so I did the math on greens. To get my 60ml of good fats, I would have to eat 123 pounds of green veggies every day. Even a horse or cow can’t do that. But at least they are a minor source of good, undamaged fats, and organic if not sprayed with pesticides. Seeds and nuts contain fats, but these fats are different from one seed to the next. If the nuts are fresh (not roasted and salted to hide the rancid taste of long storage), the fats they contain are not damaged. That’s a plus. Flax is the richest source of omega-3. Sunflower, sesame and almond contain omega-6. You can mix and match. In an imprecise and messy way, you can mix two measures of flaxseed with one of sunflower seeds or sesame seeds to get about a 2 to 1 ratio. Two flax to about 2 almond gets close to it also. Each seed has a different amount of fat in it. Each fat has a different fatty acid profile. This information can be found in FATS THAT HEAL FATS THAT KILL (written by Dr Udo Erasmus). I tried to make it easy for people by mixing them together in the right ratio, with the right seeds, with everything that makes it work best. I avoid fish, borage, and CLA, because I have concerns about their effects or side-effects on health. That said, I also tried to get enough oil from eating seeds to get my skin soft and velvety, but was unable to do so using eight tablespoons of seeds per day. Even in summer, when I need less oil than in winter, my skin gradually got drier doing my 8/day regime of seeds. Seeds are great foods, and I recommend using them, but additional oil may be required for optimum. Velvety skin is the measure I use for optimum EFA intake, because skin gets them last and loses them first. Inner organs get priority on oils, because these organs have vital functions. Dry skin won’t kill us, so it gets properly oiled from the inside only if the rest of the body has its requirements satisfied.
Q Some people may find talking about the biochemistry of omega oils boring, others may find it very interesting. I would like to know though: what is in your opinion the critical and optimal balance of omega-3 and omega-6 EFAs. Basically, what is the bottom line? A My optimum balance is 2:1. Consistently, I have seen the best results with this ratio.
And that’s the bottom line.
|
||||||||||||||||||
What does ‘essential’ mean? Life cannot make them in the body. They are required for essential structures and functions in the body. They must be supplied from outside. Insufficient intake produces deficiency symptoms that are degenerative in nature and get worse with time. Too little omega-3 for too long ends in death. Pre-death return of sufficient amounts results in recovery, because life knows exactly where and how to use them if enough is made available. (By the way, this definition of essential applies not only to omega-3, but also to omega-6, to eight essential amino acids, to 14 vitamins and to 20 minerals.) 
The question is: Is the problem here the saturated fats, or is the problem the lack of omega-3s in our diet?
First, getting the foundation right is the place to start. After that, one can play with the different therapeutic concoctions to see if one notices any subjective differences or whether there are objectively measured changes. Brain development and brain function, as well as sperm formation and heart health seem to do better with DHA. 
The child will take them from her brain. Nature protects the future (child) at the expense of the past (mother). She becomes depleted, and this shows up in memory problems, low energy, depression, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and collagen, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases which women get two to 15 times more frequently than men. 
There are others who claim that the ‘historical’ ratio is 1 to 1. The truth is that ratios in the food supply vary widely as one goes from the arctic (high omega-3), through temperate climates (lower omega-3, higher omega-6), through the Mediterranean (low omega-3 and -6, high omega-9 monounsaturated) to the tropics (low omega-3, -6, and -9, high saturated). The brain has a ratio of about 1 to 1, but other body tissues have different ratios. Still others suggest that 1 to 4 (more omega-6) is the ‘perfect’ ratio. In practice, we get much better results with the ratio of 2 to 1. Most affluent people in all latitudes now live in a summer-air-conditioned, winter-heated artificial ‘temperate’ zone, i.e. in more or less the same climate.