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We are regularly asked to reduce the amount of saturated fat we eat, but a new study indicates that eating foods high in these fats may indeed provide some protection against certain diseases.
Researchers have found that consuming foods high in saturated fat, including cakes and cheese, can reduce the risk of developing acute pancreatitis.
The US team analyzed data from people in 11 countries on how different fats – whether unsaturated or saturated – are linked to severe disease in which the pancreas becomes inflamed.
Saturated fats are found in butter, fatty meats, and cheese – foods that are consumed in abundance in Western societies – while unsaturated fats are mostly found in vegetable and fish oils and are common in the diet in Canada. Asia and parts of South America.
The researchers found that the high levels of unsaturated fat stored around the abdominal organs further generated a specific type of molecule that caused cell damage, inflammation, and even organ failure.
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Official NHS advice says saturated fat should be replaced with unsaturated fat in our diets to reduce the risk of heart disease.
While this study does not question that advice, it does suggest that obesity can sometimes protect patients during certain types of acute illness.
Indeed, the “obesity paradox” has been suggested controversially in previous studies, but with a backlash from other experts.
In their article published in Science Advances, the researchers say: “Here we find that a high percentage of dietary unsaturated fat may exacerbate the results of acute low-fat pancreatitis than people who have a higher proportion of fat. saturated in their diet. ”
The NHS says too much fat in your diet, especially saturated fat, can raise cholesterol, which increases the risk of heart disease.
The NHS website says, “If you want to reduce the risk of heart disease, it’s best to reduce overall fat intake and replace saturated fat with unsaturated fat. There is good evidence that replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fat can help lower your cholesterol level. “.
A draft guideline published by the World Health Organization recommends that people get less than 10% of their daily calories from saturated fat and instead try to replace them with unsaturated fat.
Previous reports have indicated that obesity appears to protect patients with serious medical conditions such as burns, trauma, and cardiovascular surgery.
“Obesity sometimes seems to protect the disease,” say the study’s authors from the Mayo Clinic in Arizona and the Washington University School of Medicine in Missouri.
This “obesity paradox” is often described in reports from the Western Hemisphere during acute illness.
However, the effect of lipidogenesis on disease severity has remained uncertain.
To better understand the “obesity paradox,” the researchers assessed how the type of fat people consumed affected body fat formation and linked it to the severity of acute pancreatitis.
The team used 20 clinical reports from 11 countries that linked the severity of pancreatitis to a body mass index (BMI) of 30 – the time when a person is officially classified as obese.
They also used seven clinical reports with a truncated body mass index of 25 and dietary fat data from the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Researchers found a moderate association between the percentage of patients with severe acute pancreatitis and their intake of trans fat.
But they also note that a severe form of the disease occurs in people with a low BMI in countries that consume foods containing less saturated fatty acids.
According to the team, visceral fat (stored around the abdominal organs) which is high in unsaturated fat leads to the production of more non-ester fatty acids (NEFA).
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These NEFAs lead to cell damage, systemic inflammation, and organ failure, even in individuals with relatively low body mass index (BMI).
In contrast, visceral fat with a higher content of saturated fat interferes with the production of these fatty acids, leading to milder pancreatitis.
Then the researchers carried out further experiments on mice in the laboratory.
To test how lipid synthesis affects the outcome of pancreatitis, the researchers fed the mice a diet high in linoleic acid (a polyunsaturated fatty acid) or palmitic acid (a saturated fatty acid).
And when the researchers caused pancreatitis in mice, only 10% of those on linoleic acid treatment survived after three days.
This is compared to 90% of those who follow a palmitic acid diet.
They found that saturated fat did not interact positively with the enzyme triglyceride lipase in the pancreas. This results in a decrease in the production of harmful long-chain NEFAs.
The researchers say, “Therefore, saturation of visceral triglycerides reduces the resulting fat toxicity, despite the rise in obesity, which explains the obesity paradox.”
The team noted that other factors they had not studied, such as gender, genetic history, and the presence of other diseases, may also contribute to rates of acute pancreatitis in humans.
And in 2019, a team of scientists challenged the World Health Organization’s recommendation to reduce saturated fat.
In their article published in the British Medical Journal, they argued that avoiding saturated fat altogether rather than considering the overall effect of food on health could mean the loss of important nutrients.
Researchers criticized the World Health Organization for recommending people cut back on saturated fat rather than being more specific.
Source: Daily Mail
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