I have often heard carnivore and keto dieters say that saturated fat is healthy, but I’ve never heard why that would be the case.
So, I am late to the party, but anyway since the question is whether humans need saturated fats and how much then the answer is yes, for men at least.
Saturated fats are involved in the production of testosterone and other androgen hormones and are especially important for those who are train (resistance training).
Now, the question of how much is a tricky one, since I guess it is different for each person possibly related to training status, age, sex, weight and other indicators. However, I have no data to back this up.
For the link of androgen hormones and saturated fats here are some related studies with some quotes:
SATURATED FAT INGESTION REGULATES ANDROGEN CONCENTRATIONS AND MAY INFLUENCE LEAN BODY MASS ACCRUAL
> A number of studies (2–5) have shown that reducing saturated fat in the diet, and/or replacing saturated fat with what are considered more healthy fats (polyunsaturated and/or monounsaturated fats), results in significant decline in the circulating testosterone concentration. With the well-known anabolic effects of androgens on skeletal muscle, this potentially could provide an additional link between saturated fats and/or cholesterol, resistance exercise, and lean body mass accrual.
Diet and serum sex hormones in healthy men
> Our results indicate that in men a decrease in dietary fat content and an increase in the degree of unsaturation of fatty acids reduces the serum concentrations of androstenedione, testosterone and free testosterone.
> These subjects hormonal milieu was related to specific dietary constituents, possibly leading to a decreased plasma concentration of androgen and estrogen in vegetarians.
I’m interested in this as well - specifically: is there any scientific data or evidence which supports saturated fat consumption as promoting health.
A review of the current consensus of experts across our planet, using all available data, is uniformly against increasing saturated fat consumption - all organizations tell the average person to lower consumption.
So, if anyone has any articles that say saturated fat improves outcomes (not just neutral - that’s a red herring - see below) I’d be interested as I’m always looking for reading material.
Here are links to the current consensus:
Every major health organization on the planet recommends the average person lower their saturated fat intake. No major health organization encourages the average person to increase consumption.
Most studies that say saturated fat is “neutral” compare saturated fat to refined grains or sugar. That is swapping bad for bad so we don’t see a statistically significant improvement and therefore falsely conclude saturated fat is “neutral” (aka not increasing harm compared to refined grains/sugar). The American Heart Association published a great paper that goes through all of these supposedly “pro-sat fat papers” and explains the issue with the comparison food group: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000510
The above paper goes through food groups, so it’s a great resource if you want to know the risks associated with saturated fat from a specific source (say coconut oil).
Here are some relevant guidelines and papers on saturated fat and heart disease:
Evidence as assessed by US DGAC: https://health.gov/our-work/nutrition-physical-activity/dietary-guidelines/previous-dietary-guidelines/2015/advisory-report/appendix-e-2/appendix-e-243
Paper by the World Health Organization: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/246104/9789241565349-eng.pdf
On elevated LDL causing heart disease:
https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/38/32/2459/3745109
https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/41/24/2313/5735221
Every major health organisation on the planet recommends the average person lower their saturated fat intake. No major health organisation encourages the average person to increase consumption. Despite people constantly trying to take minor correlations in the date and blow it up way more than it deserves, carbohydrates have been shown to have a much more significant impact on cardiovascular health and CVD risk. So why are the eyes and ears always on dietary fat?
I believe you are fine to eat polyunsaturated fats daily from nuts and seeds, and keep the saturated fats from red meats to once a week. The reason is the big LDL particles after red meat consumption take about 4 days to completely clear from the bloodstream. These particles are the ones that get transported to the arterial walls when they are in excess in the bloodstream + high inflammation due to sugars or excess carbs and you don’t allow sufficient time to clear the bloodstream. Now if u eat red meat everyday you don’t allow the body it’s natural mechanism to normalize the lipid profiles. That’s why fasting is so good, even if you don’t go 4 days a lot of the particles are metabolized within 24 to 48 hours hence reducing your risk.
This is a great episode from the drive podcast discussing lipid metabolism and ldl particles in much greater detail
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-peter-attia-drive/id1400828889?i=1000491965627
Scientific American 2017 article on Ancel Keys is a must read on this topic.
“Records Found in Dusty Basement Undermine Decades of Dietary Advice
Raw data from a 40-year-old study raises new questions about fats”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20685950/ Saturated fatty acid intake was inversely associated with mortality from total stroke, including intraparenchymal hemorrhage and ischemic stroke subtypes, in this Japanese cohort.
There is a lot of reasons, but first all fat-soluble nutrients and vitamins are in saturated fat. And the human body has evolved to thrive mainly on animal products.
However like anything too much is not good and Im not a fan of keto or carnivor. I dont believe in any diet restricting big groups of foods.
healthy is a big word. Its about carbohydrate elimination. And if you eat no carbs at all saturated fat is fuel. If you eat many carbohydrates all fat is bad because its all stored and not burned. Poly unsaturated fats have to be avoided. They cause inflamation. So you might see that its youre best option, healthy is a big word. Its just clean fuel if you are a fat burner. and thats what keto carnivore is for, turning you from sugarburner into fat burner. Its complex.
Strictly speaking from a biochemical perspective no. We already able to synthesize saturated fat so getting it from diet is not required. That being said, you’d be hard pressed to find foods that don’t have at least any saturated fat at all (given they’re a fat containing food). Saturated fat is the only dietary fat that will raise HDL so it’s worth keeping some in your diet for that reason.