Re: Does MUFA Contribute to IHD?

February 12, 2005

Hi folks:

The below also suggests that fish (or fish oil) is far superior to

olive oil as regards IHD.

Of course, some people around here have been suggesting this for

quite some time ; ^ )))

(Let's hope it is also good for bones!)

Rodney.

--- In , " Rodney " <perspect1111@y...>

wrote:

>

> Hi folks:

>

> If you think consuming plenty of olive, canola or soybean oil will

> help protect against heart disease, because the MUFA they contain

> explains the 'French Paradox' and the supposed wonders of

> the 'Meditteranean Diet', maybe yer need to read this, which

suggests

> the opposite.

>

> Especially the bit about: " Compared with controls, patients with

IHD

> had significantly higher daily intakes of vitamin B12 and

> MUFA ......... "

>

> " Diet, serum homocysteine levels and ischaemic heart disease in a

> Mediterranean population

> E. Vrentzos1, A. Papadakis1, Niki Malliaraki2, Evagelos

> A. Zacharis3, Elias Mazokopakis1, s Margioris2, Emmanuel S.

> Ganotakis1 and Kafatos4

> 1Departments of Internal Medicine

> 2Clinical Chemistry and

> 3Cardiology, University Hospital of Crete, PO Box 1352, Heraklion

> 71110, Crete, Greece

> 4Social Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Nutrition Clinic,

> University Hospital of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

>

> (Received 10 October 2003–Revised 24 December 2003–Accepted 17

> February 2004)

>

> Homocysteine (Hcy) is recognised as a risk factor for IHD. Serum

Hcy

> is negatively correlated with serum folate levels, the main sources

> of which are fruits, vegetables and legumes. The present case–

control

> study was designed to examine the relationship between serum Hcy

> levels and IHD and to assess the role of dietary factors in the

> southern Mediterranean population of Crete, Greece. Serum Hcy,

> folate, vitamin B12, creatinine and glucose levels and a full lipid

> profile were measured in 152 patients with established IHD, median

> age 64 (range 33–77) years, and 152 healthy control subjects, age-

> and sex-matched. Dietary data were assessed using a 3 d food intake

> record. Compared with controls, patients with IHD had significantly

> higher daily intakes of vitamin B12 and MUFA and significantly

lower

> intakes of carbohydrate, fibre, folate, cholesterol, n-3 fatty

acids

> and total trans unsaturated fatty acids. Moreover, patients had

> significantly higher serum Hcy, vitamin B12 and creatinine levels,

> but significantly lower folate. Serum folate concentrations in both

> groups had a significant positive correlation with dietary fibre

> consumption and a significant inverse correlation with vitamin B12

> intake. IHD patients should be encouraged to increase their daily

> dietary intake of fibre, folate and n-3 fatty acids, which are

> significant components of the traditional Cretan Mediterranean

diet.

> Where dietary folate intake is inadequate, folate supplements are

> recommended to reduce elevated Hcy levels. "

>

> Safflower oil, in modest quantities, looks better all the time.

>

> Rodney.

February 14, 2005

--- In , " Rodney " <perspect1111@y...>

wrote:

>

> Hi folks:

>

> If you think consuming plenty of olive, canola or soybean oil will

> help protect against heart disease, because the MUFA they contain

> explains the 'French Paradox' and the supposed wonders of

> the 'Meditteranean Diet', maybe yer need to read this, which

suggests

> the opposite.

>

Yes... I started to suspice HDL is not exactly a good marker of

atherosclerosis when I saw this:

http://atvb.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/15/12/2101

Maybe MUFA is the cheapest form of feeding population nations have

found nowadays, the same grain and a lot of carbohydrates was the old

paradigm...

Willie

February 14, 2005

The reference in Willie's note made me look carefully at the sources

of fatty acids that the monkeys were fed. The snippet below shows

that the MUFA source was " oleic acid–enriched safflower oil " ,

which makes it more like olive oil in fatty acid composition. The

polyunsaturated fat diet was normal safflower oil with >70% LA.

Interesting points:

1) *High oleic* sunflower and safflower oils are not very different

from olive oil and cannot be expected to have the same benefits

against CHD as natural sunflower and safflower oils which are high in

LA.

2) The Hegsted equation still rules! The results of the experiment

show the benefits of LA (C18:2), the relative neutrality of MUFA

(C18:1) " the monounsaturated fat group had the lowest LDL/HDL ratio " ,

and the bad effects of saturated fat (40% C16:0). Although the

conclusion indicates that MUFA and saturated fats had equivalent

amount of atherosclerosis.

Tony.

===

http://atvb.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/15/12/2101

(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.

1995;15:2101-2110.)

Compared With Dietary Monounsaturated and Saturated Fat,

Polyunsaturated Fat Protects African Green Monkeys From Coronary

Artery Atherosclerosis.

In sum, the monkeys fed monounsaturated fat developed equivalent

amounts of coronary artery atherosclerosis as those fed saturated fat,

but monkeys fed polyunsaturated fat developed less.

[snip]

each group was fed for about 5 years with experimental diets

containing 35% of kilocalories as fat and 0.8 mg cholesterol/kcal; the

diets differed only in fatty acid composition. Two diet periods with

different degrees of fatty acid enrichments were used, with the most

exaggerated being used for the longest period of the study (period 2),

which included the final 42 months of the study. During period 2, the

saturated fat diet (primary source of fat, palm oil) contained 40% of

the fatty acids as palmitic acid. The monounsaturated fat diet

(primary source of fat, oleic acid–enriched safflower oil)

contained

over 70% of the fatty acids as oleic acid. The polyunsaturated fat

diet (primary source of fat, safflower oil) contained over 70% of the

fatty acids as linoleic acid.

>>>

From: " " <rawsunlife@y...>

Date: Mon Feb 14, 2005 7:36 am

Subject: Re: Does MUFA ***Contribute to*** IHD?

Yes... I started to suspice HDL is not exactly a good marker of

atherosclerosis when I saw this:

http://atvb.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/15/12/2101

Maybe MUFA is the cheapest form of feeding population nations have

found nowadays, the same grain and a lot of carbohydrates was the old

paradigm...

Willie

>>>

February 14, 2005

Hi folks:

Regarding the Crete study, the following may be of interest. In the

Nurses' Health Study (NHS) monounsaturated oils were found to

be 'somewhat' beneficial. But beneficial relative to what? Relative

to the dreadful diet of the group as a whole.

The dietary insults being inflicted on most of the general population

make it difficult to sort out the much finer details, such as the

merits of fats like those in olive oil.

But it would be nice to know NOW what the situation would be in North

America fifty years from now if the grossest insults - the most

dangerous saturated and hydrogenated fats - were removed by twenty

years from now - 2025. We can not know this with any precision until

study participants have long since stopped eating the most dangerous

fats and ~thirty years of data have accumulated on the healthier

population.

But the Crete study may be the answer. I suspect they do not eat

large amounts of animal fat, nor french fries and donuts (etc) deep

fried in trans fats. So the cretan study may be showing us what we

might find should people in north America stop eating the worst stuff

and a new study had been going on for thirty years after that

transition (just as the NHS is now showing us, after thirty years of

data have been accumulated and study subjects are now dying).

So the Crete study may be telling us what we might have found out

fifty years from now if we had to wait for north american data to

tell us the answers.

Quite helpful, really.