It's something almost everyone who is interested in nutrition knows: Saturated fats are bad for us. They clog our arteries and cause heart attacks.
It wasn't until recently, however, that many people stopped to ask if saturated fats were truly unhealthy. Many of the other "facts" about nutrition we've thought were true since the 1960s or so have been disproven. In fact, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, on which the famous food pyramids and food plates have been built, have been changing in recent years.
They have stopped emphasizing the importance of eating a low-fat diet. They now advise limiting sugar. White sugar recently has been linked to Cancer. They stopped the long-time idea that cholesterol in the diet is bad. But they still advise serious restrictions on saturated fats.
How Much Saturated Fat Is Advised?
The American Heart Association advises that no more than 5 to 6 percent of calories come from saturated fats, which is about 12 grams of saturated fat for the average person eating 2,000 calories per day. The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting saturated fat to 10 percent of calories, which is about 22 grams of saturated fat.
I talked to my Doctor about this very subject and he said 12 to 14 grams a day. So, how much is that? 14 grams is 1/2 ounce. The saturated fat we consume comes from animal fat and cooking oil.
Did You Know that a Tablespoon of Olive Oil Contains 2 Grams of Saturated Fat?
We think of saturated fats as mainly being in fatty meats, full-fat dairy products, and coconut oil, but all fats are a mixture of different fats, and they usually include some saturated fats. This is the main reason why it is quite difficult to eat a diet as low in saturated diet fat as the American Heart Association recommends.
It is also very difficult to get all the essential nutrients that are recommended on a daily basis on a diet that is very low in saturated fat.
So, What's the Verdict?
Although eating too much saturated fat could be bad for some people, or perhaps in some contexts (such as what else is in the diet) the evidence for it being bad all the time and for everyone isn't holding up very well. Like many other things we eat, if we consume too much saturated fats it will cause high cholesterol and excess fats in the blood stream. Your liver has to process nutrients in food before they go into the blood stream, but if you eat too much saturated fat the liver can't handle more than about 1/2 ounce per day and the rest will enter the blood stream without being processed first, which will cause clots in the arteries.
Does This Mean That Saturated Fat is Good?
Some of the results I've mentioned might make us think that saturated fats in our diet are not only "not bad," they are actually "good." Like Christopher Ramsden, I would counsel humility on this point. We just do not know at this time.
However, here are some intriguing thoughts and possibilities:
- We often say "saturated fat" as if it's only one thing. There are actually lots of types of saturated fats, many of which are known to be used in different ways by the body.
- Saturated fats are more stable, and less prone to oxidation than other fats. It could be that some of the negative results found from adding polyunsaturated fats to the diet come from the fact that they are more easily oxidized, and this definitely would have negative effects on the body.
- The oils used to provide polyunsaturates are mainly full of omega-6 fats, which could have inflammatory effects in the body, not good.
- Obviously, we still have much to learn about this subject. However, the way I read the current evidence, people can stop assuming that the next burger they eat will clog their arteries! It all depends on how much saturated fat you're consuming.
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