From: 23x11.5c@gmail.com   
      
   Saturated Fat in Blood Does Not Increase on Doubling Saturated Fat in Diet:   
   Study   
      
   by Vani Pradeep on  November 22, 2014 at 1:18 PM    
      
   Diet & Nutrition News     
      
      
   Total levels of saturated fat in the blood are not increased on doubling or   
   tripling saturated fat in the diet, revealed researchers.   
   Saturated Fat in Blood Does Not Increase on Doubling Saturated Fat in Diet:   
   Study   
      
   However, increasing levels of carbohydrates in the diet during the study   
   promoted a steady increase in the blood of a fatty acid linked to an elevated   
   risk for diabetes and heart disease.    
      
   The finding "challenges the conventional wisdom that has demonized saturated   
   fat and extends our knowledge of why dietary saturated fat doesn't correlate   
   with disease," said senior author Jeff Volek, a professor of human sciences at   
   The Ohio State    
   University.   
      
   In the study, participants were fed six three-week diets that progressively   
   increased carbs while simultaneously reducing total fat and saturated fat,   
   keeping calories and protein the same.    
      
   The researchers found that total saturated fat in the blood did not increase -   
   and went down in most people - despite being increased in the diet when carbs   
   were reduced. Palmitoleic acid, a fatty acid associated with unhealthy   
   metabolism of    
   carbohydrates that can promote disease, went down with low-carb intake and   
   gradually increased as carbs were re-introduced to the study diet.    
      
   "It's unusual for a marker to track so closely with carbohydrate intake,   
   making this a unique and clinically significant finding. As you increase   
   carbs, this marker predictably goes up," Volek said.    
      
   When that marker increases, he said, it is a signal that an increasing   
   proportion of carbs are being converted to fat instead of being burned as   
   fuel. Reducing carbs and adding fat to the diet in a well-formulated way, on   
   the other hand, ensures the body    
   will promptly burn the saturated fat as fuel - so it won't be stored.    
      
   "When you consume a very low-carb diet your body preferentially burns   
   saturated fat," Volek said. "We had people eat 2 times more saturated fat than   
   they had been eating before entering the study, yet when we measured saturated   
   fat in their blood, it    
   went down in the majority of people. Other traditional risk markers improved,   
   as well."    
      
   Volek and colleagues recruited 16 adults for the study, all of whom had   
   metabolic syndrome, defined as the presence of at least three of five factors   
   that increase the risk for heart disease and diabetes (excess belly fat,   
   elevated blood pressure, low "   
   good" cholesterol, insulin resistance or glucose intolerance, and high   
   triglycerides).    
      
   After getting them to a baseline reduced-carb diet for three weeks,   
   researchers fed the participants the exact same diets, which changed every   
   three weeks, for 18 weeks. The diets started with 47 grams of carbs and 84   
   grams of saturated fat each day, and    
   ended with 346 carb grams per day and 32 grams daily of saturated fat.    
      
   Each day's meals added up to 2,500 calories and included about 130 grams of   
   protein. The highest-carb level represented 55 percent of daily calories,   
   which roughly matches the estimated daily percentage of energy provided by   
   carbs in the American diet.    
      
   Compared to baseline, there were significant improvements in blood glucose,   
   insulin and blood pressure that were similar across diets. Participants, on   
   average, lost almost 22 pounds by the end of the trial.    
      
   When looking at palmitoleic acid, however, the scientists found that it   
   consistently decreased on the high-fat/low-carb diet in all participants. The   
   fatty acid then showed a step-wise increase in concentration in the blood as   
   carbs were progressively    
   added to the diet. Elevated levels of palmitoleic acid in the blood have been   
   linked to obesity and higher risk for inflammation, insulin resistance,   
   impaired glucose tolerance, metabolic syndrome, type-2 diabetes, heart disease   
   and prostate cancer.    
      
   The study does not address what happens to palmitoleic acid levels when high   
   carbs are combined with a diet high in saturated fat. Instead, Volek hoped to   
   identify the carb-intake point at which participants began to store fat.    
      
   "That turned out to be highly variable," he said. "Everyone showed increased   
   palmitoleic acid levels as carbs increased, but values varied widely between   
   individuals, especially at the highest carb intake. This is consistent with   
   the idea that people    
   vary widely in their tolerance to carbohydrates."    
      
   Participants' existing health risks were not a factor in the study because   
   everyone ate the exact same diet for 18 weeks. Their bodies' responses to the   
   food were the focus of the work.    
      
   "There is widespread misunderstanding about saturated fat. In population   
   studies, there's clearly no association of dietary saturated fat and heart   
   disease, yet dietary guidelines continue to advocate restriction of saturated   
   fat. That's not scientific    
   and not smart," Volek said. "But studies measuring saturated fat in the blood   
   and risk for heart disease show there is an association. Having a lot of   
   saturated fat in your body is not a good thing. The question is, what causes   
   people to store more    
   saturated fat in their blood, or membranes, or tissues?    
      
   "People believe 'you are what you eat,' but in reality, you are what you save   
   from what you eat," he said. "The point is you don't necessarily save the   
   saturated fat that you eat. And the primary regulator of what you save in   
   terms of fat is the    
   carbohydrate in your diet. Since more than half of Americans show some signs   
   of carb intolerance, it makes more sense to focus on carb restriction than fat   
   restriction."    
      
   Volek sees this palmitoleic acid as a potential biomarker to signal when the   
   body is converting carbs to fat, an early event that contributes to what he   
   calls "metabolic mayhem."    
      
   "There is no magical carb level, no cookie-cutter approach to diet, that works   
   for everyone," he said. "There's a lot of interest in personalized nutrition,   
   and using a dynamically changing biomarker could provide some index as to how   
   the body is    
   processing carbohydrates."    
      
      
   http://www.medindia.net/news/saturated-fat-in-blood-does-not-inc   
   ease-on-doubling-saturated-fat-in-diet-study-144040-1.htm   
      
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