Fats can be harmful, but it's important to be specific. For an in-depth review of dietary fats, please see the Weston A. Price Foundation's article, "Saturated Fat Does a Body Good."17 In summary, harmful fats that contribute to heart disease are primarily:
1.Trans fats. By acting as a pro-oxidant, trans fat contributes to oxidative stress that causes cellular damage.
2.Highly refined polyunsaturated vegetable oils (PUFAs, such as peanut, corn and soy oil), which are high in damaged omega-6 and produce toxic oxidation products like cyclic aldehydes when heated.
These oils promote oxidized cholesterol, which becomes destructive when entering into your LDL particles. Additionally, omega-6 polyunsaturated fats, when taken in large amounts, cannot be burned for fuel. Instead, they're incorporated into cellular and mitochondrial membranes where they are highly susceptible to oxidative damage, which damages the metabolic machinery.
To protect your mitochondrial function, limit PUFAs to less than 10 percent of your daily calories. At higher levels, you will increase the PUFAs concentration in the inner mitochondrial membrane, which makes it far more susceptible to oxidative damage. Also avoid exceeding 5 percent of your daily calories as omega-6 fats.
In comparison, healthy saturated fats such as those found in animal products and coconut oil:
- Increase your large, fluffy LDL particles that are NOT associated with an increased risk of heart disease.
- Increase your HDL levels, which is associated with lower heart disease risk. This also compensates for any increase in LDL.
- Do NOT cause heart disease as made clear in a large number of studies.18,19,20,21,22,23
- Do not damage as easily as other fats because they do not have double bonds that can be damaged through oxidation.
- Serves as a "clean-burning fuel" for your brain and mitochondria, producing far less damaging free radicals than sugars and non-fiber carbs.
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