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Dietary fat: From foe to friend?
Abstract
For decades, dietary advice was based on the premise that high intakes of fat cause obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and possibly cancer. Recently, evidence for the adverse metabolic effects of processed carbohydrate has led to a resurgence in interest in lower-carbohydrate and ketogenic diets with high fat content. However, some argue that the relative quantity of dietary fat and carbohydrate has little relevance to health and that focus should instead be placed on which particular fat or carbohydrate sources are consumed. This review, by nutrition scientists with widely varying perspectives, summarizes existing evidence to identify areas of broad consensus amid ongoing controversy regarding macronutrients and chronic disease.
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Volume 362 | Issue 6416
16 November 2018
16 November 2018
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Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.
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Published in print: 16 November 2018
Acknowledgments
Funding: D.S.L. was supported in part by a career award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (K24DK082730). Competing interests: D.S.L., W.C.W., and J.S.V. received royalties for books about obesity and nutrition that include recommendations on dietary fat. J.S.V. is a founder, stockholder, and consultant for VirtaHealth Corp. and a member of the advisory boards for Atkins Nutritionals Inc., UCAN Co., and Axcess Global.
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RE: Conjugated trans fatty acids: Friends, not foes
Anura P Jayasooriya, BVSc, MAgric, PhD
Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of West Indies, Mount Hope, Trinidad and Tobago and Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine & Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Gamika Prathapasinghe, BVSc, MSc, PhD
Department of Livestock and Avian Sciences, Faculty of Livestock, Fisheries and Nutrition, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka
Corresponding author,
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]
Dear Editor,
Science E-letters
In their article "Dietary fat: From foe to friend?" (16 November, pp. 764-770), D. S. Ludwig et al. (1) review the role of dietary fat and carbohydrate sources on human health and highlight that the specific dietary elements such as saturated and trans fats impart deleterious effects on our health. Specifically, the figure 2 in the article, captioned as "Relation between increasing intakes of trans, saturated, unsaturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acid in relation to total mortality" alarms that the trans fat would be the worst culprit.
Nonetheless, a specific group of dietary trans fat endowed with superior health benefits has also been unravelled. Historically, Professor Michael Pariza's team from University of Wisconsin–Madison was engaged in an investigation on possible formation of carcinogenic compounds in meat during cooking. Accidently, they discovered a compound that inhibited the carcinogenesis (2) and it was later identified as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). The CLA is found naturally in many foods of animal origin such as dairy products and meat from ruminant livestock, because CLA is formed from linoleic acid by bacteria in the rumen, specifically the Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens. The CLA stands for positional and geometric isomers of linoleic acid but having double bonds with cis and trans combinations (cis-9, trans-11 or trans-10, cis-12). Approximate daily intake of these trans fatty acids by an adult human in western countries estimated as 500 mg/day (3). CLA exerts numerous health benefits with a minute dose, which include but not limited to potent anti-cancer effect of cis-9, trans-11 isomer and anti-obese action of trans-10, cis-12 isomer (3). Although, not consumed routinely, some vegetable seeds contain even more potent anti-cancer conjugated trans fatty acids (4)
Thus, it's not reasonable to underestimate this "friendly trans fat sources" that provide us enormous health benefits by appearing in our daily diets.
References and notes;
1. D.S. Ludwig, W.C. Willett, J.S. Volek, M.L Neuhouser, Science 362, 764 (2018).
2. Y.L. Ha, N.K.Grimin, M.W. Pariza, Carcinogenesis 8, 1881 (1987)
3. K.L. Ritzenthaler, M.K. McGuire, R. Falen, T.D. Shultz, N. Dasgupta, M.A. McGuire, J Nutr. 131, 1548 (2001).
4. T. Tsuzuki, Y. Tokuyama, M. Igarashi, T. Miyazawa, Carcinogenesis 25, 1417 (2004)
5. Synthetic CLA supplements are widely marketed as weight loss pills through popular online retailers like "Amazon".
RE: Dietary fat: From foe to friend?
Response to Dietary fat: From foe to friend?
David S. Ludwig, Walter C. Willett, Jeff S. Volek, Marian L. Neuhouser
The summary presented by Ludwig et al is useful to help re frame the discussion and clarify the current status of knowledge. The vast majority of our elderly suffer from loss of vision. It is unfortunate that loss of vision was not covered because every study published to date has shown that consuming lower glycemia diets is associated with lower risk for age related macular degeneration and major forms of cataracts. Consuming lower glycemia diets was even associated with lower risk for progress of AMD, suggesting that changing diets, even later in life, can bring prolonged visual function. This has been corroborated in extensive animal studies. Thus, consuming lower glycemia diets or switching to them can be considered a treatment for AMD. It is worth noting this information. This letter does so.
Allen Taylor, Fellow AAAS
Director of the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research,
Professor of Nutrition, Development, Molecular and Chemical Biology, and Ophthalmology
USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging
Tufts University
711 Washington St
Boston MA 02111
PHONE 617-556-3156
FAX 617 556-3132
LAB WEBSITE: http://sackler.tufts.edu/Faculty-and-Research/Faculty-Profiles/Allen-Tay...
Director of Science Training Encouraging Peace - Graduate Training Program
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http://www.step-gtp.org/
RE: Dietary Fat and Constitution-Dependent, Inherited Real Risks.
Fascinating article, but fundamentally biased, because the excellent authors ignore Constitution-Dependent, Inherited Real Risks (1-5)
Firstly, physicians have to know Quantum Biophysical Semeiotic CVD, DM, Osteoporosis, Cancer and Hypertensive Constitution-Dependent Inherited Real Risks, bedside diagnosed with a common stethoscope from birth, and removed by inexpensive Reconstructing Mitochondrial Quantum Therapy (1-5). The most common and severe human disorders can occurs under a flurry of environmentel risk factor, but in the presence of related Constitution-Dependent Inherited Real Risks, conditio sine qua non of the disease's onset. For instance, it is useless lowering the arterial pressure values to prevent vasculopathies, if the above-referred risks, heritable from the mother, are not eliminated (3-5).
We can now prevent chronic disorders, as CVD, T2DM, Osteoporosis and Cancer, diagnosing at the bed-side from birth their Constitution-Dependent, Inherited Real Risks, removed by Mitochondrial Restructuring Quantum Therapy. As a consequence, the budgets in red of NHS, all around the world, could be optimized, as well as improving performances of healh care, if physicians will learn how bedside diagnose in quanitative way these Inherited Real Risks, using a common stethoscope.
Finally, the Inherited Real Risks are heritable from the mother through her mitochondria (1-5). As a consequence, the primary prevention must inevitably be achieved in the family members of the patients' maternal line, in order to eliminate CVD, T2DM, Osteoporosis, and Cancer.
References.
1) The Key Role of Vasa Vasorum Inherited Remodeling in QBS Microcirculatory Theory of Atherosclerosis. Frontiers in Epigenomics and Epigenetics. http://www.frontiersin.org/Epigenomics_and_Epigenetics/10.3389/fgene.201... [MEDLINE]
2) The Inherited Real Risk of Coronary Artery Disease, Nature PG., EJCN, European Journal Clinical Nutrition, Nature PG., European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 67, 683 (June 2013) | doi:10.1038/ejcn.2013.37, http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v67/n6/full/ejcn201337a.html [Medline];
3) Inherited Real Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: bedside diagnosis, pathophysiology and primary prevention. Frontiers in Endocrinology (Lausanne). 2013; 4: 17. http://www.frontiersin.or
4) BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 mutation bedside detection and breast cancer clinical primary prevention. Front. Genet. | doi: 10.3389/fgene.2013.00039. http://www.frontiersin.org/Cancer_Genetics/10.3389 /fgene.2013.00039/full [MEDLINE]