Benefits of High-Saturated Fat Diets (Part I)

Results above -- click to enlarge.

What's a 46% fat diet?

Perhaps what our stone-age ancestors consumed during happy, reproductive, fertile times?


The diet compared 6% Sat Fat (low fat) to 18% Sat Fat (high fat) in a little discussed publication by Krauss et al, one of the founders of NMR lipoprotein density technology here in the Bay Area.

Change in dietary saturated fat intake is correlated with change in mass of large low-density-lipoprotein particles in men.
Krauss RM et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 1998 May;67(5):828-36. Click HERE for PDF.

• The low-fat diet contained 24% of energy as fat ( 6% saturated, 12% monounsaturated, and 4% polyunsaturated) and 59% as carbohydrate, with equal amounts of simple and complex
  carbohydrates and 17% as protein.
• The high-fat diet contained 46% of energy as fat ( 18% saturated, 13% monounsaturated, and 12% polyunsaturated) and 39% as carbohydrate and 15% as protein.

STUDY DESIGN: They tested whether nutrient intakes estimated from 4-d diet records were associated with plasma lipoprotein subclasses in 103 men who were randomly assigned to a low-fat (24% fat) and a high-fat (46% fat) diet for 6 wk each in a crossover design.

Outcomes can be summarized as the high SFA (saturated fatty acid) diet inducing multiple positive regressive lipoprotein changes:

• raised Large LDL-I 42.6%
• raised Large LDL-II 14.9%
• reduced sd-LDL, LDL-III 26.4%
• reduced sd-LDL, LDL-IV 39.1%
• raised the regressive particle most associated with longevity, niacin and omega-3 benefits, HDL-2 49.9%
• lowered VLDL 38.6%
• lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity increased with high fat
• hepatic lipase (HL) activity decreased with high fat

The above high fat diet comprised of mostly myristic acid (14:0) and palmitic acid (16:0). See Table 1.


CONCLUSIONS:

• The results indicate significant associations of dietary saturated fat intake with plasma LDL-particle distributions.
• An increase in saturated fat, and in particular,
  myristic acid, was associated with increases in larger LDL particles (and decreases in smaller LDL particles).
• Studies of the relation between LDL subclasses and CAD have, in contrast, established that a predominance of small, dense LDL particles (LDL subclass pattern B) is associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction (47, 48) and angiographically documented CAD (48–50). Some studies have also shown that small LDL particles are potentially more atherogenic than larger LDL because of increased susceptibility to oxidation (51, 52) and increased promotion of intracellular cholesterol ester accumulation (53). In addition, reductions in small LDL particles, not in larger LDL particles, have been associated with decreased CAD progression (54, 55).

Dietary Sources of SFAs Myristic and Palmitic Acid

• Cephalopods -- squid, octopus, cuttlefish -- which are extremely high in omega-3 fatty acids as well. Click here for more info (Ozugul Y. Food Chemistry 2008. 108(3):847-852).
• Wild Fish (Periago MJ. Aquaculture 2005. 249 (1-4):175-188.)
• Grassfed Beef (Leheska JM, J. Anim Sci. 2008)
• Grassfed Beef + FO Supplementation: Even higher SFA/ palmitic/ myristic quantity when fed fish oil omega-3 supplementation! ( See Table 5. Moloney AP. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society (2001), 60, 221–229.)
• Grassfed Bison (Marchello MJ. Great Plains Research 11 (Spring 2001): 65-82.)
• Free-Range Chicken (Jahan K. 2005 Poultry Science 84:158–166)
• Free-Range Chicken Egg yolks (not 'organic'-wheat-feed, see above citation)
• Pasture-raised Lamb
• Pasture-raised Pork