Just Read: Saturated Fat: Part of a Healthy Diet

Gershuni VM. Saturated Fat: Part of a Healthy Diet. Curr Nutr Rep [Internet]. Springer US; 2018 Aug 7 [cited 2018 Aug 18];1–12. Available from: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13668-018-0238-x

This is an excellent review paper recommended to me by Mark Cucuzzella, MD, that demystifies a lot of what we were never taught about fat in the diet.

As I mentioned previously on this blog multiple times, saturated fat has been exonerated multiple times in recent months, most dramatically in this exchange at Food for Thought in Zurich, Switzerland. See this post for the actual video: Photo Friday: Narrative Art and Exploding Myths in the era of Diabetes Reversal

The piece is written by a surgical resident at the University of Pennsylvania, Victoria Gershuni, MD (@VGershuniMD), whose Twitter profile I love: “Aspiring surgical nutritionist.”

I really appreciate the perspective of a surgeon – this statement in the paper really caught my eye, in a haunting way:

The assumption that dietary cholesterol and saturated fats accumulate in the arteries is in opposition with the actual composition of arterial plaques. Felton et al. found that the arterial plaques within the aorta are primarily composed of unsaturated fats and concluded that this implies “a direct influence of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids and not of saturated fats on aortic plaque formation and suggest that current trends favoring increased intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids should be reconsidered” [55]. This may have something to do with the pro-inflammatory mediators produced by omega 6 PUFA.Gershuni VM. Saturated Fat: Part of a Healthy Diet. Curr Nutr Rep [Internet]. Springer US; 2018 Aug 7 [cited 2018 Aug 18];1–12. Available from: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13668-018-0238-x

In addition, there’s excellent detail on the different types of fatty acids and how they may affect metabolic health, along with relevant, not cherry-picked research on health impact. It’s not easy to keep this information organized in a way that can be applied to a person’s health/life. Imagine what must happen (or not) in a busy primary care or surgical practice.

Also noting there are no conflicts disclosed.

Besides the quality of the scholarship, I’d like to say:

  • I love this century and the work of the physicians who inhabit it
  • The metabolic health movement is multi-specialty, just like all successful medical models are 🙂
  • Conflict free is the way to be.

2 Comments

Ted Eytan, MD