Saturated fat

Arkadyvena Flick Photo (CC)

The hype surrounding dietary saturated fat is – unsurprisingly – way overblown. Conventional wisdom, as I’m sure you’ve all heard, says that saturated fat in the diet translates directly into saturated fat in the blood. The reality is far less sensational, and I’m here to stop the continued vilification of dietary saturated fat.

First of all, saturated fats are actually required for many important bodily functions. 50% of cell membrane structure is comprised of it. Saturated fat intake increases calcium absorption and immune function, and it helps fatty acid synthesis and increases viability of fat soluble vitamins.

And besides, despite what many nutritional “experts” claim, simply eating a bunch of saturated fat doesn’t necessarily mean our blood will run thick with the stuff. It’s all about how we metabolize the fat. Eating tons of carbs – as so many Americans do, at every meal – promotes lipogenesis, which in turn influences the fat levels in our blood.

Now, we should still be careful of the fat we eat, but for completely different reasons than you might think. Animal fat contains high levels of antibiotics, feed pesticides and herbicides, and synthetic hormones. Thousands of years ago, animal fat was pretty much clean, but most contemporary ranchers nowadays pump their animals full of all sorts of hormones and antibiotics (to keep them alive in otherwise deplorable conditions long enough to slaughter). When you eat the fat from a factory-farm animal, you’re also eating whatever chemicals it has ingested.

A good option? Eat organic, local meat. If the animal isn’t given all those chemicals in the first place, its fat stores won’t be polluted. It may cost a bit more, but at least you’ll be able to enjoy all the delicious saturated fat you want without hormones and antibiotics ruining the party. Cleanliness and purity of the meat always trumps fat content. Always.