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Before World War II, when Americans were eating coconut oil and other saturated animal and dairy fats, there was a very low incidence of heart disease in the United States (3,000 in 1930).
Barely five years after the war, when they're accustomed to eating soybean and other polyunsaturated vegetable oils, the U.S. Census reported that 51 percent of Americans (that's 500,000) were dying of heart disease.
No amount of population increase, life expectancy or smoking could explain this 167-fold increase over the pre-war, saturated fat-dominated heart disease mortality rates. Interestingly, the most significant change during this time was in their diet.
Coconut oil, butter, lard and tallow disappeared from the American diet. They were replaced mainly by soybean and corn oils, and products of their partial hydrogenation such as margarines and shortenings.
Don’t you think it’s about time you found out about the other side of the Fat coin? Below are a few of the harmful truths about unsaturated fats you probably don't know, yet.
Unhealthy Fact No. 1
UFAs are extremely predisposed to peroxidation and free-radical formation. This is especially true for polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA).
Unhealthy Fact No. 2
Because they create huge amounts of free radicals that assault the DNA of your cells, PUFAs encourage cancer.
Unhealthy Fact No. 3
PUFA consumption is associated with macular degeneration. People who consume polyunsaturated vegetable oils get the disease twice as much as those who don’t.
Unhealthy Fact No. 4
Dietary intake of UFAs decreases the binding of vitamin D to D-binding proteins, making this very important vitamin less available for your body’s use. UFAs actually promote vitamin D deficiency.
Unhealthy Fact No. 5
Most unsaturated oils in the market today are highly processed. Between 15 and 20 percent of conventionally processed unsaturated vegetable oils are heart disease-causing trans fatty acids or trans fats.
… more unhealthy facts to come, unfortunately …
REFERENCES:
Hopkins, G. J., et al. Polyunsaturated fatty acids as promoters of mammary carcinogenesis induced in Sprague-Dawley rats by 7, 12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene. Journal National Cancer Institute 1981;66(3):517.
Seddon, J. M., et al. Progression of age-related macular degeneration: association with dietary fat, transunsaturated fat, nuts, and fish intake. Archives Ophthalmology 2003;121(12):1728-1737.
Ouchi, M., et al. A novel relation of fatty acid with age-related macular degeneration. Ophthalmologica 2002;216(5):363-367.
Seddon, J. M., et al. Dietary fat and risk for advanced age-related macular degeneration. Archives Ophthalmology 2001;119(8):1191-1199.
Bouillon, R., et al. Polyunsaturated fatty acids decrease the apparent affinity of vitamin D metabolites for human vitamin D-binding protein. Journal Steroid Biochemistry Molecular Biology 1992;42:855-861.
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