The Oiling of America - part 4
by Mary Enig, PhD and Sally Fallon
(Reprinted by permission from The Weston A. Price Foundation)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Benefits of animal fats
Foods containing trans fat sell because the American public is afraid
of the alternative—saturated fats found in tallow, lard, butter, palm
and coconut oil, fats traditionally used for frying and baking. Yet the
scientific literature delineates a number of vital roles for dietary saturated
fats—they enhance the immune system,54
are necessary for healthy bones,55
provide energy and structural integrity to the cells,56
protect the liver57 and enhance
the body’s use of essential fatty acids.58
Stearic acid, found in beef tallow and butter, has cholesterol lowering
properties and is a preferred food for the heart.59
As saturated fats are stable, they do not become rancid easily, do not
call upon the body’s reserves of antioxidants, do not initiate cancer,
do not irritate the artery walls.
Your body makes saturated fats, and your body makes cholesterol—about
2000 mg per day. In general, cholesterol that the average American absorbs
from food amounts to about 100 mg per day. So, in theory, even reducing
animal foods to zero will result in a mere 5% decrease in the total amount
of cholesterol available to the blood and tissues. In practice, such a
diet is likely to deprive the body of the substrates it needs to manufacture
enough of this vital substance; for cholesterol, like saturated fats,
stands unfairly accused. It acts as a precursor to vital corticosteroids,
hormones that help us deal with stress and protect the body against heart
disease and cancer; and to the sex hormones like androgen, testosterone,
estrogen and progesterone; it is a precursor to vitamin D, a vital fat-soluble
vitamin needed for healthy bones and nervous system, proper growth, mineral
metabolism, muscle tone, insulin production, reproduction and immune system
function; it is the precursor to bile salts, which are vital for digestion
and assimilation of fats in the diet. Recent research shows that cholesterol
acts as an antioxidant.60 This
is the likely explanation for the fact that cholesterol levels go up with
age. As an antioxidant, cholesterol protects us against free radical damage
that leads to heart disease and cancer. Cholesterol is the body’s repair
substance, manufactured in large amounts when the arteries are irritated
or weak. Blaming heart disease on high serum cholesterol levels is like
blaming firemen who have come to put out a fire for starting the blaze.
Cholesterol is needed for proper function of serotonin receptors in
the brain.61 Serotonin is the
body's natural "feel-good" chemical. This explains why low cholesterol
levels have been linked to aggressive and violent behavior, depression
and suicidal tendencies.
Mother’s milk is especially rich in cholesterol and contains a special
enzyme that helps the baby utilize this nutrient. Babies and children
need cholesterol-rich foods throughout their growing years to ensure proper
development of the brain and nervous system. Dietary cholesterol plays
an important role in maintaining the health of the intestinal wall,62
which is why low-cholesterol vegetarian diets can lead to leaky gut syndrome
and other intestinal disorders.
Animal foods containing saturated fat and cholesterol provide vital
nutrients necessary for growth, energy and protection from degenerative
disease. Like sex, animal fats are necessary for reproduction. Humans
are drawn to both by powerful instincts. Suppression of natural appetites
leads to weird nocturnal habits, fantasies, fetishes, bingeing and splurging.
Animal fats are nutritious, satisfying and they taste good. “Whatever
is the cause of heart disease,” said the eminent biochemist Michael Gurr
in a recent article, “it is not primarily the consumption of saturated
fats.”63 And yet the high priests
of the lipid hypothesis continue to lay their curse on the fairest of
culinary pleasures—butter and Bernaise, whipped cream, souffles and omelets,
full-bodied cheeses, juicy steaks and pork sausage.
Coming full circle—And yet, learning nothing
On April 30, 1996 a senior researcher named David Kritchevsky received
the American Oil Chemists’ Society’s Research Award in recognition of
his accomplishments as a “researcher on cancer and atherosclerosis as
well as cholesterol metabolism.” His accomplishments include co-authorship
of more than 370 research papers, one of which appeared a month later
in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.64
“Position paper on trans fatty acids” continued the debate on trans
fats that began in the same journal with Hunter and Applewhite’s 1986
attack on Enig’s research. “A controversy has arisen about the potential
health hazards of trans unsaturated fatty acids in the American
diet,” wrote Kritchevsky and his coauthors.
Actually the controversy dates back to 1954. In the rabbit studies that
launched Kritchevsky on his career, the researcher actually found that
cholesterol fed with Wesson oil “markedly accelerated” the development
of cholesterol-containing low-density lipoproteins; and cholesterol fed
with shortening gave cholesterol levels twice as high as cholesterol fed
alone.65 Enig’s work—and that
of Kummerow and Mann and several others—merely confirmed what Kritchevsky
ascertained decades ago but declined to publicize, that vegetable oils,
and particularly partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, are bad news.
But the “Position paper on trans fatty acids” took no position
at all. Studies have given contradictory results, said the authors, and
the amount of trans in the average American diet is very difficult
to determine. As for labeling, “There is no clear choice of how to include
trans fatty acids on the nutrition label. The database is insufficient
to establish a classification scheme for these fats.” There may be problems
with trans, says the senior researcher, but their use “helps to
reduce the intake of dietary fats higher in saturated fatty acids. Also,
vegetable fats are not a source of dietary cholesterol, unlike saturated
animal fats.” Kritchevsky and his coauthors conclude that physicians and
nutritionists should “focus on a further decrease in total fat intake
and especially the intake of saturated fat. . . A reduction in total fat
intake simplifies the problem, because all fats in the diet decrease and
choices are unnecessary.” However, even senior scientists find that fence
straddling is necessary. “We may conclude,” wrote Kritchevsky and his
colleagues, “that consumption of liquid vegetable oils is preferable to
solid fats.”
Footnote:
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Early this year, 1998, a symposium entitled “Evolution of Ideas about
the Nutritional Value of Dietary Fat” reviewed the many flaws in the
lipid hypothesis and highlighted a study in which mice fed purified
diets died within 20 days but whole milk kept the mice alive for several
months.66 One of the participants
was David Kritchevsky who noted that the use of low-fat diets and drugs
in intervention trials, “did not affect overall CHD mortality.” Ever
with a finger in the wind, this influential Founding Father of the lipid
hypothesis concluded thus: “Research continues apace and, as new findings
appear, it may be necessary to reevaluate our conclusions and preventive
medicine policies.”
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© 1999 Mary G. Enig, PhD and Sally Fallon.
First published in Nexus Magazine,
Dec '98-Jan '99 and Feb '99-Mar '99.
Mary G. Enig, Ph.D. is an expert of international
renown in the field of lipid biochemistry. She has headed a number of
studies on the content and effects of trans fatty acids in America
and Israel, and has successfully challenged government assertions that
dietary animal fat causes cancer and heart disease. Recent scientific
and media attention on the possible adverse health effects of trans
fatty acids has brought increased attention to her work. She is a licensed
nutritionist, certified by the Certification Board for Nutrition Specialists,
a qualified expert witness, nutrition consultant to individuals, industry
and state and federal governments, contributing editor to a number of
scientific publications, Fellow of the American College of Nutrition and
President of the Maryland Nutritionists Association. She is the author
of over 60 technical papers and presentations, as well as a popular lecturer.
Dr. Enig is currently working on the exploratory development of an adjunct
therapy for AIDS using complete medium chain saturated fatty acids from
whole foods. She is the mother of three healthy children brought up on
whole foods including butter, cream, eggs and meat.
Sally Fallon is the author of Nourishing
Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition
and the Diet Dictocrats (with Mary G. Enig, PhD), as well as of numerous
articles on the subject of diet and health. She is President of the Weston
A Price Foundation and founder of A
Campaign for Real Milk. She is the mother of four healthy children
raised on whole foods including butter, cream, eggs and meat.
References
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