Fats, Oils and Health

The Basics on Calorie-Dense Hydrocarbons

Refined fats and oils are the world’s most caloric food, but dietary fats are vastly more important than calories and energy. Shown above, edible fats and oils are three hydrocarbon chains (fatty acids) on a back-bone of glycerol. The lower image — a single fatty acid — shows one point of un-saturation: a monounsaturated fatty acid which is a healthier choice and the majority of olive oil.

Our culinary oils are mixtures of saturated and unsaturated types, never one type alone. We say that animal fat is “saturated fat,” but that’s not quite right. For instance, the fat on a hog is about 45-percent saturated and the rest is mono or poly-unsaturated. Expensive, extra-virgin olive oil is considered far healthier and mostly monounsaturated, but still contains around 14-percent saturated fat.

The omega-3 fat found in cold-water marine fish, like salmon, cod, or halibut, is anti-inflammatory, healthier, and very scarce in diets that favor highly-processed foods. And yet, over 60-percent of all the fat dripping from a freshly cooked wild Alaska Sockeye salmon is saturated fat, the chemical equal to the “saturated” hog fat. Regardless of type, fats and oils provide about 120 calories in each tablespoon.

When the clinic does a blood-draw, your serum-triglyceride level is simply the amount of fat circulating in your blood.

“Essential” — nutrient only acquired in food, which includes both PUFA families. The body does not manufacture them.

“Unsaturated” —  their carbon chains are not saturated with hydrogen. Each place where a hydrogen atom is missing there is a double chemical bond—and a kink in the carbon chain.

“Poly” — multiple double bonds creating multiple kinks in the carbon chains that comprise the fat molecule. PUFAs are liquid at room temperature because multiple kinks prevent PUFA molecules from snuggling too tightly.

Omega-6 fats have their last double bond on the sixth carbon from the end of the chain.

Omega-3 fats have their last double bond three carbons from the end.

Math Convention for Omega-6, Omega-3 Ratios

Always place the omega-6 value before the omega-3 (O6:O3) and the math will work correctly. The ratio can also be viewed as a decimal or fraction: O6/O3.

Omega-9/Monounsaturated fats have only one double bond—one point of un-saturation located on the ninth-carbon from the end of each chain. They are “omega-9.” Olive oil and avocado oil are predominantly monounsaturated, omega-9 forms.

“Healthy” Cooking Oils?

The careful application of the Mediterranean Diet—lots of fiber, anti-oxidants, whole grains, colorful veggies, fatty nuts, and seeds, fish and poultry with little red meat, AND olive oil—offers a fairly high-fat (30 to 40-percent fat), protective diet-style. “Mediterranean” is a healthy program and strongly supported by Harvard School of Public Health (see Animal Products and Health).

 

Keep in mind that in the deep pre-history of humanity there was zero bottled oil or “added fat.” The fats our ancestors ate came as part of the natural food, whether plant or animal. In consideration of the wide availability of their cheap calories, and resultant free radicals, the healthiest approach to eating fats and oils  is to acquire them from Whole Foods and dial down “added” consumption.

Less Fat, More Health

Global health authorities recommend choosing polyunsaturated oils over saturated-mostly animal fat. Then they say, remember to avoid products high in omega-6 PUFAs, or to favor omega-3 PUFAs. Well, friend, that’s pretty impossible if you are regular at the deli-case, hot-case, or cookie tin.

Shown in the multi-colored table (above), darn few plant-based cooking oils have: a) healthy omega-6:omega-3 ratios, or b) high levels of (healthy) monounsaturated fats. They are olive, avocado, and canola. Canola oil (rape seed) is an odd duck. Absolutely a highly processed, industrial seed oil—but with a healthy O6:O3 ratio. Less fat is more health.

You want to be a disease-fighter, not a disease maker, right? That’s why it’s important to return to the theme dealing with Earth’s most caloric food. More calories will not make you or America healthier, The advice to choose plant-based polyunsaturated cooking oil ignores several glaring facts about the U.S. today: nearly 60% of the SAD calories come from highly processed foods, which include highly processed, free-radical-making high-omega-6 seed-oils.

Translation: lots of people with terrible diets, uncontrolled blood-sugar and insulin receptors jammed-up with triglycerides (insulin resistance).

Will selecting, say, olive oil help with your health? It’s better, yes, but here’s the caveat, once more. High calorie-living is “ground zero” for our unsustainable metabolic disease problem; meaning, THE SHEER VOLUME, CALORIC BURDEN, AND FREE-RADICAL PRODUCTION IS MAKING DISEASE.

A grocery store with half an aisle of different oil products? An equal number of sweetened beverages and no-fiber fruit juice on a different aisle? These business enterprises are not health-focused. To my point emphasized in cheeky all-caps above, we need to lower daily fat intake and daily fat purchase-frequency. A question FAR healthier than how to save money on EV olive oil is “How can I and my loved ones avoid a few tablespoons of oil today and tomorrow.”

A few suggestions:

Use less by switching to water-based cooking — steaming food instead of frying in oil — vastly healthier (see why under Insulin and Metabolic Disease) 

 

Place fruits and vegetables in the home where they can be seen and eaten readily

 

Reconnect your time and attention to meal prep and Real Food–rather than a dependence on heat-and-eat junk-ola

 

Find sauce recipes without added oil or sugar — not the expensive, gooey crap sold for “dressing”

 

Take the snazzy deep-fry kitchen appliance to the woodshed, give it a couple good lick with an axe, then drive it to the landfill.

The dopamine neurotransmitter and our energy balance hormones have Americans in a rather addictive relationship with the highly caloric food on every corner. The deli muffin, the 250-calorie barista beverage, the ready-to-eat on the go treats — all like an old reliable dog or kitty cat. There to stroke and comfort and give meaning to our lives, while destroying our long-term health.

Extra fat added to food has a tremendous ability to motivate behavior, but modern America is already swimming in extra calories. Thus, our primal hormonal drive and the reward-seeking that comes with chronic stress means high-calorie emotional eating. You can see it all around us every day.  It is not caused by bodily, physiological hunger!

The world’s most energy-dense edible is just about devoid of vitamins, minerals and is PRO-free-radical. Most of the time, less fat offers more health.

Fat Recommendations and the Mediterranean Diet

As noted above, the Mediterranean Diet offers great flavor, diversity, and is viewed as protective: veggies, nuts, greens, seeds, whole-grains, olive oil, eggs, diary, and healthy meats (poultry and fish; restricted red and processed meats).

Importantly, it’s a high-fiber, high-antioxidant program and the fats aren’t all from added oil. Far from it. Natural fats come with nuts and seeds, dairy, eggs, selective meat, and the mostly monounsaturated olive oil. A Mediterranean approach is fantastic for the gut microbiome. A well-cultured microbiome is what UCLA gut expert, Emeran Mayer, M.D. considers “the gold standard” for human health.

Near the top of the page Animal Products and Health, are two “healthy plate” graphics featuring: the Mediterranean “Healthy Eating Plate” from Harvard; and a high-performance “Vegan Plate” from Brenda Davis, RDN. The current U.S. recommendation is to keep fat under 30-percent of calories (dump the deep-frying). For comparison, the Mediterranean approach will range as high as 40-percent of calories from healthy fat. Its restrictions — high-omega-6 oils, sugar, highly-refined carbohydrates and red meat — are crucial to health. A careful vegan/lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet might have fats ranging from 20 to 30-percent of calories.

Will a careful “Mediterranean” diet-style allow weight loss? Dumping the refined carbs, added sugar, and excessive fat — while increasing dietary fiber, antioxidants and healthy protein sources — YES, YES!

Will it reverse my diabetes or vascular disease? No it will not. In essence, the vegan diet-style with no added fat, becomes a disease reversal program. You can read about these strategies through authors: Dean Ornish, M.D., Caldwell Esselstynn, M.D., Neal Barnard, M.D., and Joel Fuhrman, M.D. Several successful disease reversal plans are outlined below.

Free-range meat is higher in omega-3 PUFAs and lower in saturated fat. Free-living Cape Buffalo were found to be six-fold higher in omega-3 PUFAs and had ten-times lower total fat than domestic beef.[i] A free-living Sitka blacktail deer spends its life munching on natural vegetation and even periodically grazes on seaweed. Such an animal will have low total fat, lower saturated fat, and a higher proportion of PUFAs, including higher omega-3.

[i] The Queen of Fats—pg. 143

Omega-6 PUFA’s and Hyper-Inflammation/Clotting

Polyunsaturated fatty acids are used to construct many cellular messenger molecules. Called eicosanoids, they might signal vaso-constriction, changes in blood pressure, inflammation and blood-clotting—or the reverse—vasodilation, anti-aggregation, or anti-clotting.

Thromboxanes are eicosanoid messengers that trigger inflammation, aggregation and clotting. For example, when we receive a cut, the blood flows until our clotting factors stop the flow. The thromboxane messenger directed the clot-forming system to get busy.[i] Another complementary eicosanoid can counteract the pro-inflammatory, pro-clot message, in turn.

The structure of the polyunsaturated fatty acids used to assembly these messenger molecules—omega-6 or omega-3—directly influences the strength of their signaling. By controlling our intake of PUFAs we exert indirect control over inflammation and clotting: 

• Higher levels of dietary omega-3 fats mean our cellular messenger molecules signal lower/slower more nudgy levels of clotting, aggregation and inflammation.

• Higher levels of dietary omega-6 fats mean our cellular messenger molecules signal higher/faster more explosive levels of clotting, aggregation, inflammation.[ii]

Common pain-meds—like aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, naproxen, and the COX-2 inhibitors, Bextra and Vioxx—mechanistically block the crucial eicosanoid forming enzyme pathway. In other words, the dietary PUFA imbalance that elevates inflammation and pain has a direct role in our high use of pain-relief and anti-inflammatory drugs. To what extent we do not know.

This raises a profoundly important question about processed foods and pain. Shall we reduce pain and needless inflammation with a healthy diet, or through billions spent yearly on anti-inflammatory drugs? Omega-6 PUFAs are by no means the only pro-inflammatory agent in processed foods. Let’s see, there’s the sugar, refined starch, a lack of polyphenols (antioxidants) and no or insufficient fiber.

The O6:O3 imbalance for the standard American family eating the SAD is perhaps three to ten times that of our ancestors just a few generations ago. The myriad of chip products, crackers, savory dips, white bread, sweet-fat sauces, processed meats, snack food—tens-of-thousands of products. The omega-3 fat we must have for optimal brain function, vision, calm cellular signals, and health and balance continue to be removed.

[i] The Queen of Fats—pg. 35

[ii] The Queen of Fats—pgs. 96-102

Since chlorophyll is the primary source for all omega-3 fats, whole plants—especially dark-green plants—are rich sources. Premier plant sources of omega-3 fats include:

Flax seeds

Hemp seeds

Chia seeds

Walnuts

Seaweed

All are high in ALA,[1] a plant derived omega-3 fatty acid that our body can use, in part. When you eat kale, spinach, or bok-choy, you are absolutely getting sun-made omega-3 fats from the source, but not as concentrated as in the nuts and seeds above, nor marine fish or refined supplements. Importantly—the O3 from fish is the long-chain real deal (EPA and DHA). A fraction of the plant-based ALA we ingest is converted to longer-chain forms and each person is unique in how they process ALA.

The end goal is sufficiency in EPA and DHA, respectively 20-carbon and 22-carbon O3 PUFA molecules—and very kinky! These are the long chain O3 fats critical to the body: used as cellular messengers, in brain tissue, the retina, cell membranes, nerve cells, and so forth Folks who are true vegans—consume no animal-products—MUST supplement EPA and DHA (and vitamin B₁₂).

The brains of many species are about 60-percent fat, roughly one-quarter of which is long-chain omega-3 fat.[i] Doing the math, roughly 15-percent of your brain is omega-3 fat—and omega-6 is not a substitute!

The importance of the natural balance of fatty acids in cell membranes and its crucial role for all life on Earth is described in the “The Speed of Life,” above right.

[1] alpha linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA), docosahaexanoic acid (DHA)

[i] The Queen of Fats—pg. 89-90

The studies by Dyerberg and Bangs showed how a diet very high in omega-3 PUFAs greatly reduced the inflammatory signaling, clot-formation, and aggregation—factors that change the risk for cardiovascular disease dramatically.

Japan provides a different cultural clue. The traditional Japanese diet contains less saturated and omega-6 fats and more omega-3 (and lots of starch), and Japan has much lower rates of heart disease than do Americans.

The physiological basis for negligible heart disease among early Greenland Inuit seems to have little to do with saturated fat. The difference apparently was by calmer, less explosive eicosanoid signaling.

Cellular messengers assembled with the omega-3 PUFAs backbone signal less-inflammation, clotting and aggregation. When deficient in omega-3 fats—and most Americans are—you’ve got trouble. Natures O6:O3 ratio (1:1 – 1:4) normalizes the body’s signaling for inflammation and clotting.

Three decades after his research on Greenland Inuit blood chemistry, the Danish scientist, Jorn Dyerberg, Ph.D explained to author, Susan Allport, how we can easily misunderstand “normal” as meaning what occurs in the dominant Western culture, which in the 1970’s “was assumed to be American.”

We must be very careful about the term ‘normal,’ because normal may be very far from optimal. Maybe the ‘normal’ bleeding time is closer to the Eskimo’s, and it is we who have abnormal, shortened bleeding times. After all, what are we dying of? We’re not dying of bleeding, are we? We’re dying of clotting, which is a much more severe problem.[i]

Is there, perhaps, a paradox at work—an Omega-3 Paradox? When saturated fat and omega-3 fats are high (and fiber low)—such as among Alaska’s early salmon-dependent Tlingit/Haida, or marine mammal-hunting Inuit/Eskimo peoples—the inflammatory nature of very high saturated fat consumption is suppressed or overwhelmed by the preponderance of eicosanoids constructed with less-inflammatory omega-3 PUFAs.

[i] The Queen of Fats—pg.67

Today, U.S. consumers spend billions suppressing inflammation. Is FDA or USDA trying to change the connections between disease and high-omega-6 in the diet? No. In fact, the US Farm Bill appropriation does the exact opposite by subsidizing grain, confined animal feeding, and high omega-6 seed-oil production.

Read This Before Going “Keto” or “Adkins”

 A goodly green salad or a vegetable-rich stew will give you vastly more than the “19 polyphenols” advertised in virgin olive oil and vastly fewer calories per unit volume. Remember this section’s mantra? Refined oils, 120 calories in each tablespoon—world’s most energy-rich food.

Refined fat requires virtually no insulin and fats provide savory satisfaction. Fats also contain very few vitamins and minerals and produce damaging free-radicals (especially PUFAs), because of their calories.

If you are a person who hopes to lose weight—or your doctor says you need to “get your HbA1c number down”—you can absolutely lower insulin and blood-sugar by eating more fat, rather than sugary, refined or high-glycemic foods. A “ketogenic diet” is high in fat and removes sources of starch from the menu: like potatoes, rice, bread/wheat, and limits beans and lentils.

The ketogenic approach to weight loss was popularized by Robert Adkins, M.D. in the 1960s and 1970s. Adkins was a medical doctor who made a lot of money, got very famous, ignored his health, and died of heart disease at age 72.

High-fiber, high-nutrient vegetables — meaning salads, soups and stews, onions, and colorful vegetables, those naturally low in calories — should not be removed from the diet! Indeed, high-nutrient/fiber, low calorie vegetables will help to reestablish the “glycemic control” that weight loss requires. There I no question that “Keto”, and Adkins-like diets can induce weight loss, but they may not be dietary programs for optimal longevity or nutrition.

Getting a major share of calories from fats, oils or animal-products is not optimal for antioxidant protection. With or without calories from fats, or starchy plant foods, high plant variety diversifies the microbiome, empowers the gut-lining, ends bowel stagnation and eliminates oxidative stress (excessive free radicals).

The Mediterranean Diet and its derivatives contain plenty of healthy fat (30 – 40 percent of calories) and is a proven longevity diet, as are careful vegetarian/vegan options (not vegan junk-food). At the top of the page Animal Products and Health, two excellent graphics illustrate both.

By the time Mark reached his early sixties, the standard American system of cardiology had installed two stents to “treat” Mark’s heart disease. Six years after its onset, this height-weight proportional man of considerable energy, an active hunter and fisher and a volunteer in the local Big Brothers Big Sisters program, was still suffering from “unstable angina.”

In 2010, Mark and Mardell realized the “stents were not working.” They had read about lifestyle medicine and soon traveled to Santa Rosa, CA, to True North. There they met Michael Klaper, M.D., a specialist in treating disease with a whole food plant-based diet. At the time, Mark was taking a statin (Simvastatin) and a blood thinner (Plavix). Soon, the most ancient of treatments—whole plant food—would be his medicine.

He described the initial experience as one of “boot camp.” “No oil, no sugar, no animal products. I asked, can I have a pizza. Silently shaking his head with a smile, “They laughed and said, ‘You’re not getting pizza here!’”

True North introduced Mark and Mardell to Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., the food-as-medicine pioneer and author of Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease (2004). Over the coming years, Esselstyn supported Mark’s treatment with occasional consultations by phone. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, so Mark and Mardell made the switch to a vegan diet and lifestyle together.

For the next thirteen years, they consumed no refined oil, sugar, or animal-products. All the fat in their diet was entirely natural, coming from whole plants. This dietary “treatment” is best viewed within the context of life or death, with no quarter for backsliding. Indeed, several of Esselstyn’s early patients who wouldn’t stick with the plan were kicked out of the trial, and they died a few years later. The phone conversations with Esselstyn gave Mark a distinct impression about this lifestyle medicine pioneer, “He’s a hard ass about staying with the treatment.”

True North and Dr. Klaper remained Mark’s primary, lifestyle treatment provider. “That’s the place! I can’t say enough about True North and the whole foods plant-based system.”

In 2024, fifteen years after beginning food-as-medicine, his new Cardiologist reported: “I am 99-percent convinced that your arteries are clear of blockages.” Mark say he resisted the invasive angiogram procedure that would definitively show the “all clear.” He’s back enjoying life, an active 76-year-old who loves XC skiing, keeping up on the firewood supply, and many other chores.

Mark and Mardell believe the triggers for his heart problems were related to a diet high in cholesterol and saturated fat. Complications may also relate to sleep apnea and the unstable sleep-work environment—25 years aboard the Alaska Marine Highway. Mark now sleeps with a C.P.A.P.-unit to provide stable oxygen flow. Daily breath-work and meditation with a vocal “omm,” a humming sound—both ancient methods—help Mark lower stress.

Mark and Mardell have again begun consuming wild salmon occasionally, but no longer other meat, nor the wild game Mark loved to hunt. They might enjoy a sweet treat at a potluck or birthday, but not very low sugar overall.

Standing as a testament to “modern” cardiology, the arteries that feed oxygenated blood to Mark’s heart still contain the useless metallic stents installed years ago. Their story of heart disease reversal is a love story and a classic Hero’s Tale involving deeply personal change in lifestyle, nutrition, and stress-reduction.

Bibliography

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Good Calories, Bad Calories—Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Healthy (2008). Taubes, Gary,Anchor Books (Random House).

Grain-Fed Dairy v. Grass-Fed Dairy—grass-fed cows produce healthier milk. Heins, Brad. U. of Minn. Ext. Svs. 2021. (https://extension.umn.edu/pasture-based-dairy/grass-fed-cows-produce-healthier-milk)

Health Implications of High Dietary Omega-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids. Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism (review article). Patterson, E., Wall, R., et.al, 2012.

 Interconnected Plates—a Mediterranean-Inspired Gut Healthy Cookbook (2023).Mayer, Emeran, M.D. Harper Collins.

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Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease (2006), Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr. M.D.

The Queen of Fats: Why Omega-3s Were Removed from the Western Diet and What We Can Do to Replace Them (2008). Susan Allport, University of California Press

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