FATS THAT HEAL, FATS THAT KILL

How processed oils, fats lead to heart disease
and which oils and fats lead to vibrant health.
Udo Erasmus, Ph.D.

Unlike most animals, humans are a relatively high fat-diet-eating species. Rats and mice eat foods containing about five percent fat, mostly from grains that contain about two or three percent fat. Rabbits, deer, moose, caribou, sheep, goats, African cattle, horses, and zebra consume foods containing less than one percent fat. Wild dogs, wolves, and wild cats have about five percent fat in their diets, because their prey is lean, averaging about three percent body fat.

Few animals eat high fat diets. Carnivorous birds occasionally eat high-fat fish. Whales that eat salmon get about 10 to 15 percent fat from that diet. Bears enjoy a similar diet for a short time in fall, but consume low-fat foods the rest of the year.

Traditionally, humans consumed 15-20 percent of their calories as fats and oils. This is far less than the 40 percent fat from present-day refined oils, grease-laden convenience foods, trans-fatty-acid-containing margarines, shortenings, and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, fat spreads, and fat-inbred pork and beef.

FATS THAT HEAL

Not only must the right amount (15-20 percent) of fats and oils be present in a diet appropriate for human health, but they must also be the right kind and quality of fats and oils. We must choose between those that heal and those that kill.

The fats that heal are fresh, unprocessed fats containing one or both essential fatty acids (EFAs). EFAs are like vitamins--they were once referred to as vitamin F. EFAs are essential nutrients which, by definition, are absolutely essential for life and health; they cannot be made by our body from other substances; and they must therefore come from outside sources (foods or food supplements).

EFAs are every bit as important to health as protein, vitamins, and minerals.

EFAs are so important to health that if we obtain insufficient amounts, our cells deteriorate. Prolonged deficiency leads to progressive degeneration that ultimately results in death.

All symptoms of degeneration (except death) can be reversed by adding adequate amounts of EFAs to the diet.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

EFAs go by fancy names. The first and better known EFA is linoleic acid (LA) [also referred to as Omega-6]. The second EFA is known as alpha-linolenic acid (LNA) [also referred to as Omega-3.]

Both EFAs have vital functions in all cells. Both (but especially LNA) are extremely sensitive to destruction and become toxic with exposure to light, oxygen, frying, or hydrogenation. To promote good health, both EFAs must be present, in their natural state, in adequate quantities, in our diet.

LA & LNA DEFICIENCY SYMPTOMS

Lack of LA can cause the following deficiency symptoms that resemble degenerative disease of the 20th century:
eczema-like skin eruptions
hair loss
liver degeneration
behavioral disturbances
kidney degeneration
excessive water loss through the skin
thirst
susceptibility to infections
failure to heal wounds
male sterility
miscarriage
arthritis-like conditions
heart and circulatory problems
retarded growth

LA deficiency is relatively rare, because our intake of LA has doubled during the last 50 years, due to increased intake of polyunsaturated oils, mainly corn and safflower.

If anything, our intake of LA is too high. Although it is essential to health, studies show that excessive consumption of LA promotes tumor growth and cancer.

Lack of LNA can cause deficiency symptoms that also resemble degenerative conditions of the 20th century:

retarded growth
weakness
impaired vision and learning
loss of motor coordination
tingling sensation in arms and legs
behavioral changes

Lack of LNA can also result in:

high serum triglycerides
high blood pressure
sticky platelets
tissue inflammation
water retention (edema)
dry skin
mental deterioration
low metabolic rate
some kinds of immune dysfunction

LNA deficiency affects upwards of 95 percent of the population, because LNA is extremely destructible--a nightmare of possible rancidity that most manufacturers prefer to avoid. As a result, our intake of LNA has decreased to one-sixth of the prevailing level in 1850. Most people's health will improve by increasing LNA intake.

While excess LA promotes it, LNA inhibits tumor growth. LNA also inhibits tissue inflammation and increases metabolic rate and energy level, helping in weight loss. Here is fat that can help keep you slim!

A QUESTION OF BALANCE

Not only must both EFAs be present in their natural, unspoiled form, but they must be present in the right ration one to another. Our balance of EFAs has shifted away from a healthy balance. Hence, we should make changes in our oil consumption habits. The ideal ratio differs somewhat from person to person, depending on dietary habits, state of health, lifestyle, ancestry, and genetic makeup.

SOURCES

The best sources of EFAs are seeds and nuts that contain them in their natural, nspoiled form, along with protein, minerals, vitamins, and fiber and fresh, unrefined oils, ends carefully pressed in the absence of light and air, shelf-dated, and kept in dark brown (or opaque) glass bottles.

"MINOR" INGREDIENTS IN OILS

Besides EFAs, unrefined fresh oils contain another set of important ingredients--the so-called minor ingredients. They are minor because they constitute only a small fraction of the total oil (usually less than 2 percent, but in unrefined rice bran oil they make up 4.2 percent).

The term minor is misleading, because the minor ingredients in fresh, unrefined oils can have major benefits on health. Let me illustrate.

Virgin (unrefined) olive and unrefined rice bran oils have a good reputation for supporting human health. Yet, if we look at their fatty acid profile, both oils are unremarkable. They contain only LA, the EFA already too abundant in most people's diets. Both oils contain virtually no LNA, the EFA missing from the foods most people eat. Why the good reputation?

The minor ingredients in virgin olive oils improve gall bladder function, increase bile flow and liver function, improve digestion and have beneficial effects on our hearts and arteries. All virgin olive oils are unrefined (minimally processed), whereas all other oils available on the mass market have been refined. Refining removes most of the minor ingredients that have health benefits. In studies, unrefined olive oil containing its beneficial minor ingredients has been favorable compared to other oils from which the minor ingredients have been removed.

Minor ingredients in unrefined rice bran oil have beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system, cholesterol level and brain function. They inhibit tumor formation and also relieve menopausal problems.

PROCESSING

[For] every step we take in processing, away from the natural state of whole, fresh raw, sun-ripe, organic, in season and locally grown, something of value is lost from food. For this loss, we pay a price in health. This is also true for oils.

Seed to oil. [The majority] of commercial manufacturers begin with cheap and/or rotten, discarded, broken, inedible seeds, and from these they make the refined, bland, tasteless, odorless, colorless oils in clear glass bottles that adorn the marketplace.

Here's what happens to the unrefined oil during the making of these oils: The oil is treated with sodium hydroxide (as in corrosive sink and drain cleaners), then with phosphoric acid (as in corrosive window washing acid that cuts grease). Then it is bleached and deodorized at a destructively high temperature.

During these processes, most of the beneficial minor ingredients are removed, and small amounts (perhaps one percent of the oil weight) of many toxic substances are formed. The oil changes from protective against mutations (unrefined) to mutation-causing (refined). The effect of the oil on human health has taken a 180 degree turn. Oils on supermarket shelves, except for virgin olive oil, have taken this turn.

Oil to margarine. Having removed the minor ingredients and produced toxic substances, we subject the refined oils to a further insult called hydrogenation, carried out at frying temperature for six to eight hours to make margarines (cheap imitation butter) and shortenings (to replace lard) as well as partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (to give body to potato chips, other junk foods, candy, and bakery products).

In this process, the essential nutrients of LA and LNA are selectively and systematically destroyed. Trans-fatty acids are formed in large quantities, and they make up from 9 to 50 percent of the total in most hydrogenated products. In addition, other unnatural toxic products are formed. This processing is a remarkable destruction of a whole , nutrient-rich, natural food with many health benefits.

FATS THAT KILL

We can categorize the fats that kill into four groups:

hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils

fried oils

refined commercial vegetable oils

hard fats

Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils include margarine, shortenings, shortening oils and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils that are used in junk foods, convenience foods, candies, confections, cookies, breads, and other baked products.

The EFAs in these products have been largely destroyed and converted into toxic products that increase cholesterol levels and promote cancer and atherosclerosis. The largest group of these toxic substances, trans-fatty acids, make up twice the amount of all other food additives combined. Studies indicate that trans-fatty acids have detrimental effects on:

Fried oils have been subjected to the destructive effects of light, air (oxygen), and high temperature, all at the same time. EFAs are destroyed in hundreds of different possible ways, resulting in a smorgasbord of toxic molecules. Fried oils have been shown to increase both atherosclerosis and cancer.

Frying is a health-destroying practice, no matter what fat or oil is used. The more EFAs an oil contains, the more toxic it becomes when fried. For those unwilling to give up this health-destroying practice, small amounts of butter or tropical fat cause the least damage to health, but also provide no EFAs, which must come from fresh, unrefined oils in brown glass bottles.

Refined oils have been overheated, producing some toxic molecules; and beneficial minor ingredients, including vitamin E, carotene, lecithin, and phytoserols, have been removed.

Our bodies can deal with some hard fats, but an excess of hard or saturated fats makes platelets stickier, slows metabolic rate, results in fat deposition and weight gain, interferes with insulin function and interferes with the function of EFAs.

CONCLUSION

Small amounts of saturated fats are part of our natural diet. Refined oils, fried oils and partially hydrogenated oils found in margarines, shortenings, and convenience foods are unnatural food additives to be avoided.

For health, we need both EFAs and many natural oil-soluble minor ingredients. For health, we need to get all these from seeds, nuts, and fresh, unrefined oils.

Purchase the entire book Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill: The Complete Guide to Fats, Oils, Cholesterol and Human Health by Udo Erasmus here!

For almost two decades, Udo Erasmus has dedicated his time to understanding the effects of fats and oils on human health, as well as the nature of health itself. Most of his more recent days have been spent on the road, spreading the message about this largely misunderstood, but vitally important, subject. He has written two ground breaking books: Fats and Oils, and Fats That Heal Fats That Kill, and has now almost completed his third, Fats That Heal Fats That Kill: The Kitchen Guide, co-written with Usha Menard. Udo's latest research and itinerary can be seen at www.udoerasmus.com.

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