Fats & Fatty Acids – Knowing what is good for you!

The word "fat" has become synonymous with obesity, fast food and poor health choices. People have become quite obsessive about choosing "low fat" varieties of food and it has been drummed into most of us over the last couple of decades, that "fat is bad". Often when naturopaths advise people to increase their essential fatty acid intake as fish or evening primrose oils, we are asked "but will it make me fat" or "how many calories in those capsules?"

But how many people know how to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy fats? Why are fats important and why do we need them?

There are three types of "macronutrients" – carbohydrates, proteins and fats – and these contribute to our make up. They then contain further "micronutrients" like vitamins, minerals, amino acids and fatty acids; that are required as building blocks and for the functioning of the human body. There are two "essential fatty acids" that our body can not make itself, that we must get from out diet – omega 3 and omega 6.

We even need cholesterol, believe it or not!? Cholesterol is the starting block for our sex and adrenal hormone production. We don’t need much but we do need some.

Categories of fats
The other name for fats is "triglycerides". Fats are solid at room temperature and oils are liquid. The difference between a fat and an oil is the type of fatty acids in each and what chemical structure they have.

Interestingly, when humans lived a more hunter/gatherer lifestyle, the game meats they ate then were much higher in omega 3 fats. Nowadays, due to intensive farming practices and animals being fed on more grain-based diets, they have become higher in omega 6 fats. Omega 3 fatty acids are found in dark green plant foods and fish actually get them from the algae they eat.

Chemistry
A triglyceride is made up of glycerol and three fatty acid chains consisting of carbon bonds. A saturated fat contains all single carbon bonds paired with hydrogen atoms and are solid at room temperature. Unsaturated fats contain one or more double bonds with less hydrogen atoms and are liquid at room temperature. A naturally occurring double bond is called a "cis" bond however a cis double bond can be altered to become a "trans" bond. Trans fats, though not saturated, behave like saturated fats – are solid at room temperature. They are found in crumbed or battered foods, crackers, biscuits, ice-cream, pastry, baked goods, donuts and margarines

Saturated fats are far less likely to become rancid. Rancidity is due to the oils oxidizing which occurs from exposure to light, heat and oxygen. Mono and poly-unsaturated oils are more susceptible to oxidation because they have more double bonds so have less hydrogen atoms and can pick up more oxygen. Now this is where the subject of hydrogenation comes in. Margarine is the best example of a hydrogenated/trans fat – liquid oils are made solid by making cis double bonds into trans bonds, by adding hydrogen, so it behaves like a saturated oil, is solid and does not go off as quickly. But the body does not recognize it and does not know quite what to do with it!

Does fat make you fat?
The answer to this is yes and no! If you count calories, fat contains twice as many calories or kilojoules as carbohydrates and proteins. The body will burn carbs before fat. Essential fatty acids are incorporated into all our cell membranes.

This is where the amount and type of fat we eat comes into play. A couple of years ago a researcher at the University of Wollongong examined why some animals had faster metabolisms than others and why the bigger the animal, the slower the metabolic rate. As cell membranes are made of fats, which control what goes into and out of the cell and how fast, he looked at what it was about the membranes that dictated the speed of metabolism. And you know what he found? Those animals with faster metabolisms, had a higher percentage of omega 3 fatty acids in their cell membranes – the ones that had diets high in leafy greens or algae like fish.

In Paleolithic times the ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 was 2:1. Now it is often as much as 20:1! This may be due to the move towards a more agricultural culture and increased consumption of grains. High refined carbohydrate-based diets have been shown to contribute to obesity. It is also known that the body will convert excess carbohydrates to fat/cholesterol, if it is not used for energy.

So, if trying to lose weight, it really may be a better option to consume less refined grain-based foods, opt for low fat dairy products, eat grass fed meats and more omega 3 in leafy greens, fish and fish or flaxseed oils – no, they won’t make you fat!

Cholesterol
There is a big myth surrounding this issue – that what you eat is the main contributor to high cholesterol. There are, in fact, many more things at stake. Sometimes I’m asked "Why have I got high triglycerides when I don’t eat much fat?" Excess saturated and trans fats do increase both the good HDL and bad LDL cholesterols; trans fats raise the bad and lower the good and unsaturated fats lower the bad and raise the good.

It is the liver that makes cholesterol and packages fats into the different lipoproteins, and if the intake in the diet is low, it will compensate by making more. Everything in moderation and balance.

Inflammation
These two fatty acids have very important roles in the body in controlling inflammation. As you can see from the diagram, they both have pathways in the body that can lead to the production of either pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory "prostaglandins". This is why there is very good evidence for the use of Fish Oils for arthritic pain and Evening Primrose Oil for pre-menstrual pain. A high omega 6:3 ratio drives inflammation, an underlying factor in heart and auto-immune diseases, diabetes and cancer.

Nervous System
Because of their presence in fatty brain and nervous system tissue, deficiencies can also be linked to depression, loss of vision, behavioural and co-ordination problems. Dry skin, hair and nails; swelling, hypertension, infertility, abnormal blood clotting and liver degeneration can also all be linked to EFA deficiency. It is important to have enough omega fats during pregnancy for the development of the childs eyes, brain and nervous system.

So, what to do?
Here’s some tips we can all follow without too much difficulty to include healthy fats in our diets:

• Cut down on, but not out, saturated fats. Opt for low fat dairy choices and lean cuts of organic grass-fed meat.

• Look out for hydrogenated oils and fats. A little butter in moderation is probably better.

• Watch out for "low fat" foods – they may be high in sugars/carbs.

• Try to buy cold-pressed oils and consume them unheated where possible as salad dressings and do things like using Flax Oil in smoothies or protein shakes and Olive Oil to spread on or dip bread in. Olive oil and butter are the best to cook with due to their high burning points.

• Buy and keep oils in dark glass bottles to keep light off them and keep well sealed in the fridge to avoid heat and air.

• Buy grass-fed meat and poultry rather than grain-fed, where possible.

• Eat fish 2-3 times a week – the cold water varieties are best like salmon, cod, halibut, mackerel, sardines and trout.

• Increase consumption of plant-based foods, especially the leafy greens.

• If suffering from arthritis, blood clotting problems, hypertension, depression, behavioural disturbances or dry skin etc, look to supplementing with a Fish and/or Evening Primrose Oil supplement.

Good oils to use:
Flaxseed Oil
Fish Oil
Evening Primrose Oil
Pumpkin Seed Oil
Olive Oil
Canola Oil
Sunflower Oil
Safflower Oil
Coconut Oil
Avocado Oil
Sesame Oil

Preferably buy them cold pressed in dark glass bottle from you health food store.

Sara Hopkins is a Naturopath who has worked in the Complementary Medicine industry for the past 8 years, including Pharmacy, Health Foods and Clinical Practice. She has a Bachelor of Health Science and currently works for one of Australias leading Complementary Medicine manufacturers in Customer Support, Technical Research and Writing.