131: Why You Need A Low PUFA Diet
With the rise of commercially processed seed oils like soybean oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, grapeseed oil, corn oil, rapeseed oil and rice bran oil over the last 120 years, so has risen the incidence of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer.
In this week’s podcast we’re talking about how excessive polyunsaturated fatty acid intake is not only harmful to your health, but also slows down your body’s ability to burn fat.
EPISODE 131: Why You Need A Low PUFA Diet
Show Notes
(0:00) Intro
Hello my friend! Welcome back to the club, how are you today?
Today we are talking about the importance of avoiding the commercially processed seed oils as much as possible.
(2:01) What is a PUFA?
PUFA stands for polyunsaturated fatty acid. Most of these seeds oils fall into this category. There are three different kinds of fatty acids: saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated.
Saturated fats come from foods like dairy, tallow (which is beef fat) and coconut.
Monounsaturated fats come from foods like olives, avocados and peanuts.
Polyunsaturated fats come from some nuts, seeds, grains, fish and from animal fat as well.
Historically, that’s how we got them in our diet (naturally through whole foods).
The problem is that now, the PUFA category is much bigger and more present in our food supply because manufacturers started mass producing oil made from these seeds.
(3:31) The difference in the molecular makeup of these fatty acids (what it really boils down to is stability).
These fatty acids - the saturated, the monounsaturated and the polyunsaturated have different levels of stability in their molecular makeup and the more we eat the unstable fatty acids, the more unstable our health and our weight is going to be.
What creates the instability are basically the spaces in the molecular makeup of these fatty acids.
They’re actually double bonds but let’s just think of them as spaces for the sake of simplicity.
Saturated have no spaces, mono unsaturated have one and polyunsaturated - the PUFAs - have multiple. The more spaces between the hydrogen molecules, the easier oxygen can get in there to oxidize and cause damage. So the more spaces, the more the instability.
The Fat Burn Fix by Dr. Cate Shanahan.
Saturated fats always get a bad rap but they are your stable friend
I want you to remember these solid and loosey goosey descriptions when it comes to your cell membranes .
Every cell in your body has a membrane around it which is largely made of fat.
And that cell membrane needs to be like goldilocks - not too solid, not too loosey goosey but juuuuuuuuuuust right.
The overconsumption of the PUFAs compromises the health of your cell membranes.
(7:31) PUFAs
There are two major categories of PUFAs
Omega 3s and our Omega-6s.
These are known as the Essential Fatty Acids.
The body does make saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids because it needs them in large amounts and the body cannot risk you not getting enough from food.
The body does not make PUFAs and we DO need some PUFAs because we need some of these Omega-6s and Omega-3s, but we don’t need that many. We only need them in small amounts and we can get them from food.
It’s estimated that we only need about 3-5 grams of the EFAs per day but the average American is getting 50-80 grams of PUFA a day and that is a major problem because you have way too many unstable guests at your dinner party.
In the early 1900’s, people’s fat tissue was made up of about 2-3% of polyunsaturated fatty acids - today the average American’s fat tissue is made of 20-30% of PUFA.
(10:23) The Hateful 8— Dr Cate Shanahan
Includes: soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, safflower, corn, grapeseed oil, rapeseed oil (which is canola oil) and rice bran oil.
They didn’t exist at any significant level in the human food supply until the early 1900’s.
Now these oils are available everywhere and in everything - they’re used as cooking oils, they’re in your salad dressing, they are in packaged foods, they are in your restaurant food - these are the oils most restaurants use for cooking.
The addition of these oils is probably the most significant change in the human diet in the last 100 years. And what have we seen in the last 100 years? An alarming rise in heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes and other chronic illness that was not an issue for our ancestors like it is for us today.
Another important factor that we have to keep in mind when it comes to the Omega-3s and Omega-6s is that the Omega-3s promote the anti-inflammatory pathways in the body and the Omega-6s promote the inflammatory pathways in our bodies.
(13:35) How PUFAs are Made:
In the podcast I did about influencing the health of our family and friends, I talked about how the constitution of each generation is getting worse and worse.
Our great or great great grandparents did not have this high percentage of polyunsaturated fat accumulating in their cell membranes and fat tissues like we do which wreaks systemic havoc in our bodies.
These seed oils were first introduced in the mid to late 1800’s. Cottonseed oil was originally used as machine and lamp oil and started being used in cattle feed and then in people feed.
Manufacturers have to add hydrogen to the oils - this process is called hydrogenation, it creates trans fats which are incredibly toxic to the body, but it helps to make them more solid, or 'spreadable'.
The other big one was Soybean oil which was introduced in the early 1900’s - around 1909 - it wasn’t in our diet at all before that but by 1999, 100 years later, it increased 1000x fold as part of our diet. In fact soybean oil now makes up about 70%-80% of the fat intake of most Americans. So most of the fat Americans eat is soybean oil - because it’s in everything.
Before the introduction of these seed oils into the food supply, the primary fats used were butter, tallow and lard. Animal fats. Our ancestors weren’t flying in coconuts and avocados to make oil in the early to mid 1900s. And Olive oil wasn’t a commonly used oil yet - it was fats from animals.
The oils extracted from things like soybeans, corn, cottonseed, safflower seeds, and rapeseeds (which is canola) must be refined, bleached, and deodorized before they are “suitable” for human consumption.
First, they have to be heated to extremely high temperatures - this causes the unsaturated fatty acids in the seeds to oxidize (this is the instability part).
That creates byproducts that are harmful to human and animal health.Then, the seeds are processed with a petroleum-based solvent to maximize the amount of oil extracted from them.
Then they use chemicals to deodorize the oils, because they don’t smell good when they’re extracted. So they put some deodorant on them.
Then they throw in a few more chemicals to improve the color and the look.
Anything that has to go through that much trouble to be “edible” is probably not real food the way God made it.
(19:33) The corruption of our government health agencies and independent health agencies:
We’ve had the fear of God put in us to NOT eat animal based fats - even though that’s what everyone did for all of time until these oils started being manufactured.
People started dropping dead of heart attacks in the 1950’s like no one had ever seen before - hmmm, I wonder why - and there was an opportunistic physiologist named Ancel Keys who really screwed things up. You’ve probably heard me throw his name out in some of these podcasts. If there’s a villain in this story, he’s it.
Now the kicker to all of this - there was no good science to support the recommendation of a low fat diet. There’s a really good book called The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz that details all of this information and it’s so shocking.
She goes into how there was Not a single clinical trial or test of low fat diet or diet restricted in sat fat - no science to support this recommendation.
When they finally did start testing Ancel Keys hypothesis in late 60s early 70s - they could NOT confirm that limiting saturated fat or fat in general had any benefit for health at all - it did not prevent obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular mortality or cancer.
In fact, Ancel Keys actually ended up running a true scientific experiment after the fact called the Minnesota Coronary experiment - which actually revealed that people who had more PUFA had more cardiovascular events despite having lower LDL cholesterol. You are absolutely still at risk for a heart attack even with a low LDL if you are eating these seed oils - your LDL may not show being high, but they’re oxidized because of the PUfAs- and oxidized LDL is what is deadly.
Essentially, these study results were buried. They were dismissed, they disappeared and that was that.
It’s slowly coming around, very slowly, very very slowly is the recognition that these seed oils, these highly processed, oxidative PUFAs are the problem and are harmful to your health and are making you fat.
(28:00) The historical push for canola oil.
Now one thing they DID do when they discovered that uh-oh, these vegetable oils really aren’t that great for humans is start pushing canola oil.
A passage from an article on the Weston A Price Foundation website called The Great Con-ola:
“By the 1980s, the food industry had a problem. In collusion with the American Heart Association, numerous government agencies and departments of nutrition at major universities, the industry had been promoting polyunsaturated oils as a heart-healthy alternative to “artery-clogging” saturated fats. Unfortunately, it had become increasingly clear that polyunsaturated oils, particularly corn oil and soybean oil, cause numerous health problems, including and especially cancer.1
The article goes on to explain the properties of this newly modified rapeseed oil which got named Canola oil because this new version was created and used in Canada. Canola oil has more of the monounsaturated fats than it does the PUFAs - it still has PUFA in it, just not as much.
None of these fats are 100% SUFA, MUFA or PUFA. They all have a mixture of the fatty acids, but they are classified by their primary structure. So if they are mostly saturated - they get labeled a SUFA, if they are mostly PUFA, they get labeled a PUFA. Even butter is like 70% and 25% MUFA.
Canola oil got pushed hard as a heart healthy- and it is still marketed that way today - but it is not “heart healthy” like I would in no way, shape or form seek out and purposely use canola oil to improve my cardiovascular health.
(32:52) The harmful effects of PUFAs:
We know that the PUFAs are harmful because of their molecular structure they are easily damaged when exposed to light, heat and air which they are exposed to in processing and again when you use them.
They are highly oxidizing so you have these highly damaged molecules going into your body generating toxic byproducts and free radicals which damage your arteries and cell membranes. Every cell of your body has a cell membrane around it which is made of fat and if yours are mostly made of damaged PUFAs you are unhealthy at a cellular level. Your cells make up your tissues, your tissues make up your organs and if your organs are unhealthy, you are unhealthy.
Our bodies weren’t designed to burn polyunsaturated fats as fuel.
And so what does it do? It accumulates in our adipose tissue and cell membranes and slows down the way our mitochondria generate energy.
Here’s the thing - because it’s hard to burn as fat, PUFAs are hard to get out of your fat tissue - It can take 2 years! This is why it’s critical - CRITICAL - that you stop eating seed oils NOW because it takes a while to process them out of your system. And while they’re so prevalent in your system, you will not be at your best health or fat burning capability.
Dr. Cate Shanahan says these oils create carbohydrate addiction at a cellular level.
The more PUFA you have in your fat cells, the less your body can burn fat and will need to use carbs and sugar.
PUFAs can also make your fat cells overly expand and having big, overly stuffed fat cells is a problem.
It’s called adipocyte hypertrophy which means you have overly big, distended, unhealthy fat cells which are essentially metabolically broken fat cells.
When fat cells get too big and can’t divide - fat cells become sick - that’s what leads to inflammation and metabolic dysfunction.
(38:40) So what do we do:
The most obvious = Get the seed oils out of your kitchen. Don’t wait until you finish the bottle of corn oil or vegetable oil or canola oil or whatever you have in there. Throw it away today. Fill your pantry with coconut oil, extra-virgin olive oil and avocado oil and get real butter for your fridge. If you can get butter from grassfed cows even better. I recommend you look for olive oil and avocado oil in dark, glass bottles and keep in mind that manufacturers often cut these oils with vegetable oil but label them as pure olive or avocado oil. If it’s mostly olive oil or avocado oil they can label it as such even if it has vegetable oil in it. Isn’t that horrible? So this is not the place to cut corners. Get a high quality oil - I think California Olive Ranch is a good brand and can be found in most stores. I use extra-virgin olive oil a lot more than I use avocado oil. The fats I use the most are olive oil, coconut oil and butter. I also recently rendered some tallow from our grassfed beef fat - like an old-school pioneer woman and I’ve been using that for some cooking . Our American ancestors used a lot of butter and tallow which actually are a good source of the fat soluble vitamins - Vitamins A, D, E and K. You don’t get that from the oils. Not even coconut oil. Do not be afraid to use animal fats my friends. God socked some good nutrition in there. People often ask what I use for baking instead of vegetable or canola oil - I typically use butter or coconut oil or a combo. Sometimes I use avocado oil but mostly I use butter. Because butter is delicious.
Avoid packaged food, salad dressings and mayonnaise that have these seed oils - and there are ALOT of them. I want you to make it a point this week to flip over every package you are going to buy or something you are pulling from your pantry or fridge and read the ingredients. You’re going to be shocked how many things have one of these oils in them. It has absolutely infiltrated the food supply. And if you see the word hydrogenated, run for the hills. That’s like satan in your hand.
Now here’s one you’re probably not thinking about - your meat. Sadly, these oils - mostly soybean and corn oil - have infiltrated the animal food supply. most beef, chicken, turkey, eggs and even fish that you buy at the store have been fed soy and corn in some form which means they’re getting a lot of PUFA - which by the way is not their natural diet - and they pass these PUFAs on to you. What’s interesting, however, is that ruminant animals like cattle, sheep, goats and deer better process these PUFAs and so you don’t get quite as many passed onto you but chicken and pork are pretty high in OMega-6s unless you’re getting them pasture raised. In fact, I read that the #1 source of linoleic acid - which is the main Omega-6 fatty acid that is so problematic - is chicken. And a lot of people are relying on chicken as their source of protein. But, unless you’re getting it pastured raised - it’s going to have a relatively high PUFA content which does get passed on to you. Even organic chicken can still be fed soy and corn - it just means its nonGMO soy and corn which is better - but still not ideal. Oh but listen to this - there is a study that GM soybean oil causes less obesity than regular soybean oil. Not no obestiy, just a little less. But it doesn’t lead to lower incidences of diabetes or fatty liver. The study, however, found that coconut oil, which is high in saturated fats, caused fewer negative metabolic effects than either type of soybean oil, or olive oil.
If you can’t find or afford pastured chicken and pork - eat the leaner cuts with less fat content so you’re not getting so many PUFAs. Again, meat from ruminant animals like beef or venison are naturally lower in PUFAS because of their multi-chambered stomach which helps them digest and detox in a different way than monogastric animals like pigs and chicken and us. And if you eat grassfed beef or wild game you get more of the beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids so that’s pretty cool. And remember that ruminant animals are the ones God directed the Isrealites to eat.
4. Finally, you have to understand that any time you eat out at a restaurant - you can assume they’re using one of the PUFA oils. Even if they say they use olive oil, you have to wonder if it’s 100% olive oil because they likely buy the cheaper kind that has been cut with the seed oils. I know, it’s all very stressful. Don’t make yourself crazy trying to avoid every single drop. You’ve just got to do the best you can and it’s why it’s super important to have the quality control at home because it’s so much harder when you eat out. Even when you buy the prepared foods at a grocery store like Whole Foods - they quite often are using the cheaper seed oils too. And that’s a real bummer.
(50:20) Closing thoughts:
Okay my friends - today was a biggie. I hope you will pay more attention to your PUFA intake and minimize it as much possible. Stick to the more stable fats, the ones that God made, the ones we’ve been using historically and that are much easier to come by more naturally - butter, tallow, extra virgin olive oil coconut oil, avocado oil - those are the primary ones.
(52:51) Outro & Disclaimer:
Thanks for listening! Have a healthy and blessed week!