Nutrition Basics #5: The untold truth about saturated fat!

When we talk about health, most of the times we refer to our physical health.

Sexual health is also equally important as our ability to procreate is a sign of optimal health. In today’s article, I will reveal the untold truth about saturated fat and especially the cholesterol fad.

What is saturated fat?

We already spoke about other types of fat in my previous 4 articles. The difference between saturated fatty acids and MUFAs (1 double bond) and PUFAs (2 or more double bonds) is that they have no double bonds in their molecule. To put it another way, for each carbon atom there are 2 hydrogen atoms making them ‘full’ or ‘saturated’.

This type of fat tends to solidify at room temperature.

Saturated Food Sources

Saturated food sources include:

• fatty meats such as beef, pork etc,
• full-fat dairy products such as butter, cream, milk,
• coconut oil,
• dark chocolate (more specifically cocoa butter and unsweetened cacao powder)

The importance of Saturated fats and the Cholesterol Fad

In the last couple of decades, the media unleashed a war on saturated fats and cholesterol with the excuse of taming the imaginary outburst of heart disease. This crusade began on the premise that the consumption of saturated fat would increase cholesterol and since high cholesterol levels were linked to higher risk of cardiovascular disease — bingo! From that point on, all saturated fats were held responsible for heart disease.

However, this assumption was based on a study that was done in rabbits which were fed huge amounts of animal fat. Now if you know anything about biology, you should know that rabbits eat greens and not animal flesh and fat.

People have been told to avoid eating saturated fat as it can kill their heart. On top of that, in about 50 years time the maximum levels of cholesterol were reduced from 300 down to 250 and then down to 200. How is that important?

Apparently, anyone with a cholesterol level of over 200mg/dl is automatically assumed to be at high risk for heart disease and stroke.