Fats and Oils - We Need Them!

There is much to know about how important fats and oils are to health. Humans need to have 20 to 30 percent of the dietary intake of food energy be from fats. In the natural state, fats and oils contain essential fatty acids. These are referred to as "essential" to denote that the body does not produce them, and they therefore must be supplied by dietary intake. They are also essential for conversion of the food source into "energy" in the cells and for "communication" between cells in the brain and the body.

Essential Fatty Acids

There are three base categories of essential fatty acids:

Omega 3 - from linolenic acid - breaks down into EPA and DHA which raise the level of HDL, the "good" cholesterol and lower tri-glycerides, as well, help brain development and communication. Omega 3 comes from fish liver oil, plankton, and flax seed and flax oil.

Omega 6 - from linoleic acid - also regulates cholesterols and tri-glycerides, mood, hormones, and organ health. Primrose. black currant and borage oils are main sources.

Omega 6 - from linoleic acid - also regulates cholesterols and tri-glycerides, mood, hormones, and organ health. Primrose. black currant and borage oils are main sources.

Omega 9 - from oleic acid - protects and encourages health in all connective tissue, especially joint cartilage and fluids as well as skin, muscles, tendons and ligaments. Extra virgin, first press olive oil is a good way to get this.

Together, the essential fatty acids are communicators between cells, strengtheners of all tissue, required for cholesterol and weight control, as well, DNA and cellular renewal. Without these elements, cholesterols and residual fats could not be on the "re-uptake" system that protects the body from laying down excess fats, but rather to recycle them for later needs or "dump" them from the body when not needed.

Processing in Modern Times - "Saturated" Fats

Unfortunately, when oils are processed for market, they are pumped through with hydrogen which changes the molecular structure to something "foreign" to the body and destroys the most important factors… the essential fatty acids. Shelf life is forever, but the usability is nil! (Another practice in commercial production is the use of aluminum vats which leach this "heavy" metal into the oil and thus into the body.) These "hydrogenated" fats are very dangerous. The product becomes "saturated", but, unlike meat or dairy fat the change in the carbon structure makes it toxic and indigestible. It comes in the form of cooking oils, margarines, vegetable lard (Crisco), as well as incalculable numbers of manufactured foods from peanut butter, popcorn and salad dressings, to boxed and frozen prepared foods. Restaurant foods can be requested to be cooked with olive oil or a little butter. Ideally, as little as possible of these oils should be consumed as they rob the body of essential fatty acids and are the cause of good share of today's top ten dis- eases.

Meat and Dairy Fats

As for meat and dairy fats... They are saturated so they are heavy on the digestion. Certainly, they require a lifestyle more akin to our ancestors, where constant hard physical work and activity, as well as wild, diverse and nutritionally and enzymatically potent foods helped the body to digest and utilize such sources of fat. Without arguing whether or not these are acceptable sources of food, we can say that some metabolic types fair better than others with these fats. As with all fats, enzymes are required to digest them, so if there are deficiencies, trouble will occur. Clearly, they are more difficult on digestion, have a greater likelihood of creating toxicity because of slow digestive time, and have the least supply of essential fatty acids.

Illnesses Related to Diets High in Saturated Fats

Diabetes, gout, obesity, diseases of the entire digestive tract, especially the intestines, cellulite, high blood pressure, tri-glycerides and cholesterols, cardiac disease and cancers forming from "free-radical" damage due to rancid residual fats, are just some of the myriad offenses to the body attributable in part to the ingestion of saturated fats and oils and the products made with them.