Re: Long-chain saturated fats at body temperature

[Guest guest]

> I am having a discussion about fats at

> www.drsears.com, and I got stalled by the following

> argument: " Long-chain saturated fats are solid at body

> temperature. Therefore, they increase cell membrane

> rigidity which in high amounts can impair insulin

> function and transport across cell membranes,

> resulting in higher insulin levels and an increase in

> series-2 eicosanoids. Not a prescription for

> cardiovascular wellness. "

>

> Does anyone know if that's true? In case anyone would

> like to join the discussion, the direct address is

>

http://www.drsears.com/site/Forums/Hormones.nsf/dd961575a419946f852566

f3006d2f55/7e62c7700a49e72a85256ba5004a97a4?OpenDocument

Barry Sears is a little quackish:

1. Cholesterol, which is much, much, much stiffer than saturated fat

is an *essential* component of cellular membranes. One of the

theories about why low cholesterol and polyunsaturated fats are a

risk factor for cancer is that there isn't enough cholesterol to firm

up the cellular membranes, and polyunsaturated fats require more

cholesterol in cellular membranes because polyunsaturated fats make

soft membranes.

2. Cellular membranes, like most of the body, are homeostatically

controlled. Too soft = more cholesterol. Too hard = less. In fact,

the most plausible mechanism for how dietary fat influences blood

cholesterol is that polyunsaturated fats drive cholesterol into

membranes while saturated fats release it, although we still don't

know for sure how it works.

3. The Zone has other quakish theories. It stipulates that all

degenerative diseases are caused by series 2 pro-inflammatory

prostaglandins. But those same prostaglandins are produced when you

are injured. Inflammation plays an important role in the treatment of

injury. The current mainstream (and WAP-ish) nutritional thought is

that oxidation damage is causing chronic injury to our arteries. If

that's true, the pro-inflammatory prostaglandins are helping prevent

heart disease, not causing. Eating a contrived diet that hamstrings

your bodies ability to produce these prostanglandins would actually

make you more likely to have a heart attack because your body can't

heal from the damage.

Furthermore, just as anti-oxidants can deal with oxidation damage,

unsaturated fats are more likely to become oxidized than saturated

fat. So consuming diets rich in saturated fat would minimize the

oxidation damage to our bodies *and* help our bodies to heal the

damage that is done. Sear's diet increases the oxidation and

hamstrings the bodies ability to heal itself.

Which sounds like a prescription to cardiovascular wellness to you?

[Guest guest]

At 01:06 PM 4/24/02 -0500, you wrote:

>> I am having a discussion about fats at

>> <http://www.drsears.com/>www.drsears.com, and I got stalled by the

following

>> argument: " Long-chain saturated fats are solid at body

>> temperature. Therefore, they increase cell membrane

>> rigidity which in high amounts can impair insulin

>> function and transport across cell membranes,

>> resulting in higher insulin levels and an increase in

>> series-2 eicosanoids. Not a prescription for

>> cardiovascular wellness. "

>>

>> Does anyone know if that's true? In case anyone would

>> like to  join the discussion, the direct address is

>>

><http://www.drsears.com/site/Forums/Hormones.nsf/dd961575a419946f852566f30

06d>http://www.drsears.com/site/Forums/Hormones.nsf/dd961575a419946f852566f3

006d

>2f55/7e62c7700a49e72a85256ba5004a97a4?OpenDocument

>

I just did a google search on long chain saturated fats. Quite a bit there.

Looks like they mean beef and pork fat. Of course they're looking at grain fed

fat.

Wanita

[Guest guest]

> So you don't dispute that saturated fatty acids (or

> only long chain saturated fatty acids?) increase

> rigidity of cellular membranes, right? If so, is it

> inconceivable that one can consume too much of them?

No. It only means that less cholesterol will be required to maintain

the proper digree of cellular rigidity.

>

> I am not an expert on the Zone theory, but as far as I

> know, it does not state that all degenerative

> diseases are caused by series 2 pro-inflammatory

> prostaglandins.

Yes it does. Hence the talk about " good " eicosoanoids and " bad "

eicosanoids. I remember the quote almost verbatim, " vitually all

disease states are the result of " bad " eicosanoids. " My copy of the

book is at my parents house, so I can't reference it at the time

being. But that's the whole point of playing " the eicosanoid game "

> Neither does it promote decreasing

> their production by all means. What it's about is a

> *balance* of both types of prostaglandins.

Again it does. His whole theory is about tons of GLA and no AA. He

calls liver " your worst nutritional nightmare " because its rich in

AA. His only interest in balance is increasing the DGLA derived anti-

inflammatory omega-6 eicosanoids as well as the omega-3 derived anti-

inflammatory eicosanoids. He tries to hamstring the pro-inflammatory

AA derived eicosanoids at every step.