The Oil We Need To Know

First posted 10:36pm (Mla time) July 15, 2005
By Lynett A. Villariba
Inquirer News Service

Editor's Note: Published on page B5 of the July 16, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
 

NUTRITIONISTS tell us that we need fats and oils to (1) lubricate our joints and intestines, (2) strengthen cell membranes, (3) nourish the skin, and (4) restore fat-soluble nutrients to the tissues.

 

Food oil is made up of fatty acids-individual fat molecules whose length of carbon chain determine health properties. Shorter-chain fatty acids are more soluble and not stored as fats like long-chain fatty acids.

 

Saturation of hydrogen atoms in fat molecules gives oil stability and shelf life. Oxygen, heat and light cause unsaturated fatty acids to (1) turn rancid, (2) form trans fats, (3) create free radicals.

 

A generation ago, imported food oil producers made us believe that all saturated fats were bad for the heart. But when it was found later that their highly processed polyunsaturated oils were causing cancer, they shifted to genetically altered mono-unsaturate.

Now, in an about-face, researchers are showing that the highly refined and hydrogenated canola, soybean and corn oils were unhealthy, while finding coconut oil healthiest. 

Filipinos who held on to their traditional oil proved wise in not jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. The big food oil business which tried to sell us saturated fat lies ended up being fried in their own oil.

66-92 % Saturated

 

Refined Coconut Oil

No missing hydrogen atoms in its 92% saturated fatty acids makes it the only oil healthy and safe for cooking in high heat.

 

Virgin Coconut Oil

A unique medium-chain length of carbon atoms makes
coconut oil easily digestible.

It has the highest lauric fatty acids (53%), one of only few antivirals from nature.

 

Raw Butter

Its 66% saturation makes it solid at room temperature so that it will not turn rancid easily. Its unique short-chain fatty acids are beneficial to health.

 

Natural

Butter is produced by agitating whole milk from pasture-fed cows, goats or water buffaloes until fat rises to the top. The natural process churns out 66% saturated fat, including 12-15% short- and medium-chain fatty acids. Four-carbon antimicrobial butyric acid unique to butter, is found mostly in butterfat from cows. Six-carbon capric acid, an antifungal, is found mostly in butterfat from goats.

 

Cold press/refined

Virgin coconut oil, extracted from fresh coconuts by natural cold-press and fermentation has Vitamin E and added nutrients.

Fresh coconut oil, expeller-pressed from coconut pulp without the use of chemicals, still retains valuable antimicrobial fatty acids to function as a healthy, safe oil for cooking.

Refined, bleached and deodorized oil (RBD), processed from copra in high heat, loses heat-sensitive nutrients but still remains safe as a frying oil up to twice use.

 

Traditional

Raw butter is a source of:
1) fat-soluble vitamins A, D, K and E which can survive the pasteurization process.

2) an anti-stiffness compound in raw butter that protects us from a) degenerative arthritism, b) hardening of the arteries, c) cataracts, and d) calcification of pineal gland.

3) a powerful catalyst (Activator X) that helps the body absorb and utilize minerals.

4) short- and medium-chain fatty acids that are antimicrobial, antitumor and immune system-healthy.

5) a balance of omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids in small but nearly equal amounts.

6) conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) from pasture-fed cows that has strong anticancer properties.

7) lecithin for the proper assimilation and metabolization of cholesterol and other fats.

8) good cholesterol for growth and development like that found in mother's milk that can protect against cancer, heart disease. It is when cholesterol gets oxidized in high heat that is bad.

9) glycosphingolipids, protects against gastrointestinal infections in the very young and the elderly, found in whole milk and lost in skimmed milk.

10) trace minerals -manganese, zinc, chromium and iodine, antioxidant selenium

 

4,000 years recorded benefits

Coconut oil has 4,000 years of recorded health benefits in Ayurvedic medicine.

During the Spanish era, Filipinos extracted oil naturally even after English merchants introduced commercial copra oil milling in 1850.

The anti-tropical oils propaganda in 1950 intensified through the American Soybean Association's media campaign in 1987.

By the mid-1990s, scientists were declaring coconut oil as the new health oil for the 21st century while uncovering health risks for other oils.

 

Prevent heart disease

Cardiologist Dr. Conrado Dayrit notes that coconut oil-consuming Filipinos don't have the same health problems of polyunsaturated oil-consuming communities. Despite inroads made by imported oils, coconut oil is keeping Filipino heart mortality rate low, the rate of infectious diseases down, and making them younger-looking for the following reasons:

 

Coco oil helps prevent heart disease

In 2000, leading hormones researcher, Dr. Raymond Peat confirmed that a sufficient quantity of coconut oil added regularly to a balanced diet: (1) lowers cholesterol to normal by promoting the conversion of bad LDL cholesterol into the anti-oxidant pregnenolone, (2) tends to restore the heart-healthy processes inhibited by unsaturated fats, like metabolism, clot removal and immune function, (3) reduces the body's need for the antioxidant vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids, (4) inhibits the liver's formation of fat, allowing energy to be used, rather than stored, and (5) can kill major types of atherogenic bacteria and viruses in the blood.

 

Coco oil can prevent cancer

Dr. Mary Enig found that coconut oil acts an antioxidant. It slows down the oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids.

 

Coco oil prevents infectious diseases

In the 1970s, pharmacologist Dr. Jon Kabara discovered a rare natural antiviral in Lauric acid most abundant in coconut oil.

Bruce Fife's book lists lipid-coated bacteria, viruses and fungi coconut oil can treat.

 

Explanation of trans fats

Leaving out one fatty acid does not make it a trans fatty acid. A trans fatty acid is the geometry of a unsaturated portion of a fatty acid or the angle of the double bond and the single bond on each side. For brevity I only show a small segment of a fatty acid .....C-C=C-C..... (C) is a carbon atom, ( = )is a double bond or unsaturated site , ( - ) is a single bond

The natural geometry is in a U shape or CIS position ,in other words the first carbon atom (C) is angled up and the last carbon atom is angled up. In unprocessed (no high temperature exposure or partial hydrogenation) fatty acids with a double bond is in the CIS configuration and occurs 100% of the time.

In a Trans fatty acid the first carbon atom( C ) shown is angled up and the last carbon atom is angled down . This results in a shape of a lazy s or ~ (tilde) called Trans configuration. Hydrogenation eliminates some or all of the double bonds ( unsaturated sites) The FDA now require labelling of the amount of trans fatty acids in foods. These Trans fatty acids are suspect in cardiovascular disease as well as other heath issues . To my understanding , trans fatty acids get into your system and become incorporated in cells .The problem is that the geometry of trans fatty acids is incorrect to properly function in metabolic systems. There are some good sites out there about trans fatty acids. Man .... can I get long winded.

Trans fats not like saturated fatty acids

A response to a misleading statement by the Australian Government’s Department of Health and Ageing titled “Good Fats and Bad Fats”

by Mike Foale

12 April 2007

   

Dear Health Professionals. The statement “Trans fats tend to act like saturated fatty acids in that they can impact on health by adversely affecting cardiovascular disease risk.” is misleading on two counts and I urge that you take advice to revise it. It is misleading to link trans fats and saturated fats as being equal in their action on cholesterol and risk to heart health. Trans fats are false fats that the living cell does not “recognise” in performing metabolic functions. Not only do trans fats raise LDL cholesterol but they are linked with increased incidence of some cancers (ie they are carcinogenic). Saturated fats on the other hand have been found sometimes in some individuals to raise cholesterol, but in healthy individuals they raise HDL in parallel with LDL so that the critical ratio between total cholesterol and HDL is not raised to a risky level. Indeed there is much published evidence in the medical literature that shows an improvement (lowering) of this ratio when saturated fats are included in the diet.

 

The misleading demonisation of all saturated fats (which was instigated decades ago by the soybean association of North America) has led to some very poor advice being promulgated by the Australian Department of Health and aging. For example the Assistant Minister, Hon Christopher Pyne released a press statement on 12th March that included the following: “It is important, when we reduce transfats in our food supply, that we do it in the context of a balanced diet. For example, we don’t wish to decrease transfats by returning to the use of saturated fats such as palm oil, tallow or lard.” Mr Pyne was also quoted, following the press release (according the The Australian on 13th March) that “There are some companies that have moved to remove all saturated fat, and I think most other companies will follow suit.”

 

This linking of trans fat with natural saturated fats is very unfortunate and would have disastrous consequences for the health of Australians. Natural saturated fats are healthy and important ingredients in the diet. Many vitamins are fat soluble and would not be absorbed in the body without adequate saturated fats in a diet that also contains the essential omega 6 and omega 3 fats.

 

The Australian had previously published, on 7th March, a report on research into fast food (Big Fat Tick for Maccas) carried out in Sweden, in which almost half of dietary energy consumed by the subjects came from dairy fats that are more than 50% saturated. After four weeks on these high fat diets cholesterol levels had actually fallen. The researchers also commented that. “The most important point we have found so far seems to be that people’s bodies respond so differently to the same change in their diet.” Clearly one diet does not suit all, which must be kept in mind when diet recommendations are being made, especially in relation to types of fat. It makes education of Health Professionals in Australia about the complexities of fat in the diet a very important objective for your department to encourage. An important point relating particularly to palm oil, but also to tallow, and coconut oil (which is not available in supermarkets in Australia, only in health food shops) is that these are very good cooking oils because of the high proportion of saturated components. A saturated fat is stable, meaning that it does not, when heated, generate chemical derivatives such as free radicals and other harmful molecules. On the other hand mono-unsaturated cooking oil (olive) and particularly polyunsaturated cooking oil (canola, soy, sunflower, cottonseed, corn) does generate problematic entities and generally is not recommended for multiple use. Saturated cooking oil may generally be used several times without such risk. In summary: Trans fats are very different from natural saturated fats Saturated fats in a balanced mix that contains essential omega 3 ans 6 fats do not raise LDL cholesterol adversely Saturated cooking oils are distinctly safer than unsaturated cooking oils

 

Sincerely Mike Foale

Principal Research Scientist (retired)

Specialist in Coconut management and Dryland Soils

Post-retirement Fellow - CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems - QBP