Good Fat, Bad Fat: Get the Facts

It's almost impossible to discus health and fitness without encountering the dreaded F-word. Yes, I mean "fat." We all talk about it, worry about it and sometimes obsess over it but do we really even know the facts about fat?

Luckily, Dr. Udo Erasmus has some enlightening fat info. Erasmus considered by many to be one of the forefathers in fat research introduced flaxseed oil for human consumption several years ago. Previously, flaxseed oil which had been around for hundreds of years was basically seen as nutritionally worthless. Erasmus, who has a Ph.D. in nutrition, has spent the past two decades studying fats. We spoke with Erasmus recently and he gave us some other morsels of "fat wisdom" to digest.

MM: McDonald's recently announced they're developing a new fry recipe with less trans-fatty acids. That seems to becoming more of a trend, with companies trying to use less trans-fatty acids considered some of the most harmful fat acids in their foods.

Dr. E: No matter what you fry with, you wreck the food. Whatever they use, frying is one of the major problems. Using trans-fatty acids is another, so you just get a double whammy when you do that. The cooking oils they used before they got into trans-fatty acids, those had already been treated with "Drano window washing bleach." (Erasmus often explains that cooking oil manufacturers, in an effort to extend the product's shelf life, treat oils with several strong types of chemical including a corrosive base used on clogged sink and drain pipes; a corrosive acid used commercially for degreasing windows; and bleaching clays.) Then they're heated to frying temperature, so they're basically twice-fried oil.

MM: When companies at least try to cut down on the trans-fatty acids, does it seem like people are finally realizing what you've been saying all along?

Dr. E: No, because they need to make fundamental changes. If you're going to fry, butter gets you less toxicity than any of the liquid oils. That's because the less essential fatty acids in the fat, the less toxicity created during frying. What makes the fat hard is being low in essential fatty acids. So you want the hardest thing you can find to fry with. The oil industry changed people's habits from using water for cooking in steaming, poaching, boiling and pressure cooking which is a smarter than to do from a health point of view to using oil for cooking. It was a bad change to make

MM: A lot of people think it's okay to fry something, as long as they use margarine.

Dr. E: It's actually completely the wrong thing to do. The way margarines and shortenings are made, first the oil is pressed from the seed and treated with the chemicals and heated to frying temperature. That wrecks one-half to 1 percent of the molecules and removes ingredients in oils that are good for you but shorten the shelf life. And that's why that's done, to increase the shelf life on oil. You take out the minor ingredients in about two percent of the oil that are good for you, and then one-half to 1 percent of the molecules are changed from natural to very toxic. That's 50,000 molecules for each of your 70 trillion cells. From one tablespoon of cooking oil. That's a lot of molecules. So we start with an oil like that. Then it gets hydrogenated, which creates trans-fatty acids, to make a shortening. And the trans-fatty acids, according to Harvard School of Public Health, they double the risk of heart attack, increase diabetes and kill at least 30,000 Americans every year. Other research says they interfere with liver detoxification, change the way the immune system functions, increase cancers, make platelets stickier, interfere with vision, interfere with cerebral cortex function and interfere with functions of essential fatty acids that you need. Then they take the shortening, and they fry it where light, oxygen and high temperature damage it all at the same time. Then it's hydrogenated and damaged further. Then it's fried, and damaged even further. Should we be doing that? I don't think so. You have damaged oil molecules, which are intimately involved in the cell, including in gene activation and gene repression. When you change them, do you think they might affect the way your genetic program functions? The answer is a big yes. That's scary stuff.

MM: How can we monitor our trans-fatty acid intake? I never see "trans-fatty acid" listed on an ingredient label.

Dr. E: You can usually tell that a food contains trans-fatty acids if the term "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" is on the label. As we like to say, "If you see the H-word on the label, then get the 'H' out of there."

MM: Essential fatty acids meaning omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids are people getting enough?

Dr. E: If you're on a normal North American diet, you're getting omega-6's. Of course you're getting them with the damaged molecules, because mostly they're coming from cooking oils. And the omega-3's have decreased to one-sixth of what people got 150 years ago. So we've changed the ratio, which is an important factor because they compete. The most important thing is to make sure and bring in and optimize the good fats, the essential fatty acids. The body cannot make these, but needs them in order to be healthy. They need to be made and packaged and stored and used with care. You don't ever want to put them in the frying pan.

MM: You developed a better method for preparing oils, right?

Dr. E: I developed methods for making oils with health rather than shelf life in mind. I did that because I had cancer to look forward to from pesticide poisoning. The doctors couldn't help me, so I started looking at nutrition. I discovered fats and cancer have a relationship. And when I realized the damage done to oils, I said we ought to be making them with health in mind. So I developed methods for doing that in 1983, and developed flax oil in 1986. Then I became omega-6 deficient on flax oil because it has three or four times more omega-3 than omega-6, and that's too high. So I developed a blend that is twice as rich in omega-3 and has enough omega-6 so you don't become omega-6 deficient. And that product is called Udo's Choice Oil Blend.

MM: What kind of results have people seen with this product?

Dr. E: We did a study with athletes, and within a month, some of them had 40 to 60 percent increased stamina. Athletes told us their injuries heal much quicker when they take the essential fatty acids. They could work out longer before getting tired, their injuries healed quicker, they could build muscle faster. Their joints didn't hurt as much, they slept better, their concentration was better, their skin was nicer and their mood was better.

MM: Weren't people skeptical that a fat-related product could actually be good for them?

Dr. E: A lot of people are still afraid of fats and say, "Well maybe you'll give them energy, but you're also gonna give them a heart attack." So we measured cardiovascular risk factors in a sub-group of these athletes. We lowered their triglycerides by 21 percent over the course of 3 months. Their good cholesterol was up, their bad cholesterol was down. And one of the diabetics in the group had Type 1 diabetes and he was underweight, which is common, and they'd been trying to get him to gain weight for years. They tried protein and creatin but got no results. And when we put him on the oil, he gained 11 pounds of muscle in four weeks.

MM: What's the best way for people to get the right balance of essential fatty acids?

Dr. E: People say fats are complicated. That's why we made the oil blend. You just throw it in with your protein shake, or put it in your salad dressing or on steamed vegetables.

MM: What's the best ratio of fats, proteins and carbs?

Dr. E: There's no "one size fits all." With fats, you can go anywhere from 15 to 60 percent of the calories. We've seen people sometimes go up to 50 percent of their calories if they have joint pains, arthritis, if they're overweight. So for fats there's quite a wide range. For proteins, I do it by feel. When I work out, I crave proteins and I eat protein until the craving's gone. The same thing with carbs. An athlete can maybe use 70 percent of his calories from carbs and burn them all. A person who is sedentary may get fat on 40. It depends on your level of activity. They're just fuel. If you don't burn them, you wear them.

MM: What about bodybuilders or athletes. How do their needs differ from regular people?

Dr. E: They need more fuel and need more protein, and fats as well. But you have to make sure about the sources of fats, because the fats are very sensitive to destruction by light, oxygen and heat and are damaged by processing.

MM: When people start using your oil do you also suggest they change their diet at the same time?

Dr. E: When we did the athlete study, the only thing we did is added the oil. They didn't make any other change in their diet. I do have some recommendations, though. Number one is green foods. Number two is good fat. Number three is protein. Limit the carbs to the amount you burn. That's sort of the foundation. And I take antioxidants, very important, especially if you're in a high stress workout situation. I also take multivitamin. Lots of water. Good fresh air. Sleep properly. Make sure you pursue your passion. Make sure you have goals that are worthwhile. Get your heart in line with the universe that created you and gave you life. Good sense of humor. The rest of it is about activity. If you are not physically active you don't need a body.

MM: What are some common misconceptions about fat?

Dr. E: One of them is that fats make you fat. Another is that margarine is better than butter. Another is that you don't need essential fatty acids if you get enough of certain vitamins. And that flax oil is the best source of both essential fatty acids that's completely wrong. If you use it exclusively it will make you omega-6 deficient. There's another misconception that just because an oil is only a half percent or one percent damaged, it's okay. So the toxicity of the oils damaged by processing is very poorly understood.

MM: I guess if people would read your book they wouldn't have the wrong ideas.

Dr. E: There are actually two books. One is Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill. And then the simpler version, Choosing the Right Fat. They can also check out my website at www.fitnessfats.com