Optimal Fatty Acid Profile in LCHF/KETO Dietary Approach

[Praveen55]

Is there an optimal proportion of saturated, mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fatty acids in LCHF/KETO dietary approach?

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador]

Personally, I'm not a big fan of the idea that there's an "ideal diet". As long as you don't eat a Healthy Diet - with it's synthetic fats and chemically-extracted vegetable oils - you'll probably be fine.

Incidentally, I reckon Orwell missed a trick in Nineteen Eighty Four. You'd think The Road to Wigan Pier might have given him the idea of a Ministry of Good Health prescribing an Eatwell Plate that makes everyone ill (although he got it nearly right, with the government of Oceania exhorting everyone to eat fake food). I wonder if anyone would have got the joke today?

Lesser-known fun fact: C.S.Lewis wrote a series of dystopian novels too, in which a British quango called NICE is mandated to make everyone's life better via "science".

[Praveen55 in reply to TheAwfulToad]

I just wanted to make sure I am on right track. Hence this question.

I do not take vegetable or seed oil at all. In fact, I use very little added oil - 2/3 tbsp of olive oil a week. My dietary fat is mostly the natural fat in the meat and some from dairy ( butter, cream and cheese). I do like to eat some nuts and seeds also e.g. Almonds, Walnuts, Chia seeds and Flax seeds. As such I do not count individual types of fats. I believe it is heavy on saturated fat.

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador in reply to Praveen55]

I suspect you know more about it than I do

[Praveen55 in reply to TheAwfulToad]

That is not true. I along with many others on this forum have been learning from you. Thanks for making LCHF forum so lively through your myth-busting posts.

[Hidden]

Try Dr Berg's video, he has loads on fats. I bet you'll get a good idea from him although not looked myself.

[namaha]

Dear Praveen

Good question and at the right forum! 😊

Let me see if I could explain with whatever I have learnt so far...

Typically, the fatty acid composition of a healthy human body is as follows:

(1) Oleic Acid MUFA with 18 carbon atoms -55%

(2) Palmitic Acid SFA with 16 carbon atoms -30%

(3) Palmitoleic Acid with 16 carbon atoms-5% (it is a MUFA but behaves like SFA)

(4) Steric Acid SFA with 18 carbon atoms - 3%

(5) Arachidonic acid, DHA , and other PUFA- 7%

To summarise, Human body fat composition is typically 55% MUFA, 38% SFA, 7% PUFA .

Please note one imp thing , this 7 % PUFA is not from LA or ALA - the ones found in flax, chia , Veg oils. Because if you eat Linoleic acid and Alpha linolenic Acid in flax, chia , veg oil , it gets metabolised in our body to Arachidonic Acid and EPA/DHA respectively before it gets credited in your Adipose tissue. DHA is good with anti- inflammatory property, but unfortunately the conversion rate from ALA to DHA is negligible. And Arachidonic acid is inflammatory and it appears to be responsible for all health conditions. It may have few benefits, but with more illness. ...

Let us see what could happen if one eats more Veg oil PUFA or even chia / flax and reduces his SFA/ MUFA quota???

The human body is a wonderful machine created by nature. It will synthesize it's own quota of SFA and MUFA from whatever Protein/ carbs you take by a process called De Novo Lipogenesis, but unfortunately this SFA and MUFA may not go to Adipose tissue but it may get deposited in your internal organs (visceral fat). Moreover your LA PUFA will get converted in to a long chain Arachidonic Acid , which is inflammatory and ALA conversion to EPA/ DHA is extremely poor literally giving you no benefit.

Now between SFA and MUFA , what will you choose??

Study reveals and also my own experience and true with almost all that SFA increases HDL/LDL and reduces TG- don't bother about LDL. Why SFA reduces TG is another story???

But MUFA marginally increases HDL with almost neutral to TG.

I will definitely prefer SFA over MUFA or I would take 60:40.

The body will get its own quota of MUFA partly from protein / carbs and since you are eating a low carb diet- don't worry -the De Novo process is such that with low carb diet, the fatty acid now will not go as visceral fat but would go to Adipose tissue.

Finally the body would like to store SFA and MUFA in adipose tissue in a LCHF diet and would like to get rid of long chain with Several double bond PUFA's through the circulating TG route by providing energy for day to day work.

Well now what is the source of my Fat - I am a vegetarian with dairy and egg. So I take Butter , Ghee, cream, Greek yoghurt, coconut, Almonds, Avocado, macadamia, Free range egg, Parmesan cheese and a lot of Fiber from non starchy vegetables especially the fermentable ones / supplement which contain Inulin, FOS, GOS, XOS, pectin, resistance starch which feeds my Microbiota and produces SCFA.

Well, once a while little chia or few walnuts should be ok.

Would be happy to answer your query on the subject in case I am aware.

[Praveen55 in reply to namaha]

Thanks namaha . My major dietary intake of fat is from meats which have roughly 57% SFA, 36% MUFA and 3% PUFA. Dairy too has similar distribution of fats. Nuts are high in PUFA. The way I eat does not give me much choice to adjust the fat proportions.

Perhaps, Hidden has been saying it is good to consume fats in proportion of body fat composition. That means I should be eating less saturated fat and more MUFA.

[namaha in reply to Praveen55]

👍 you are right ! Meat fatty acid and human body fatty acid composition are Bio- Similar!

Carry on with your party , as long as (1) you ensure that the animal was healthy before slaughter..it was without any dreaded disease ... For example if it had cancer cells, it may be difficult sometimes to kill some kind of cancer cells in various cooking method that we use.

(2) Meat protein while it has good Biological value , but it's Lysine and Arginine ratio is high. Lysine competes with Arginine with same set of enzymes in the same pathway/transportation system for its absorption and so higher amounts of Lysine could create a Arginine deficiency. Arginine, a semi essential Amino acid though body can make, but with age and health conditions ,the arginine production gets impaired. Arginine is required along with L- Citruline - another semi essential Amino Acid for production and sustainance of Nitric oxide which helps in dilating our blood vessel and ensures arterial Health / CV Health. Therefore, you need to take some plant protein (along with your meat) which have low ratio of Lysine / arginine. And that is where Nuts and seeds and some plant food come in to picture!

Then, if you have a health condition such as metabolic syndrome and on LCHF, it is a big challenge since all seeds and nuts though good sources of low Lysine and arginine ratio, are high in PUFA , some are high in Net Carbs and so we need to Select those nuts very carefully such as Almond, and other Plant protein which are low in Lysine but high in Arginine and at the same time it does not have much PUFA and does not have very high in Net Carbs. Also many plant food contain a lot of Phyto- Nutrients, Poly phenols , Anti-oxidants etc which helps in Nitric oxide production and sustainance of arterial/vein Health.

(Caution : If you have Herpes virus infection , Try to avoid arginine rich food)

Hope this helps!

Disclaimer : I am not in any anti- meat, Anti-dairy or Pro- dairy group or Society. I am doing my Post graduate course - M.Sc. on Food and Nutrition. My objectives are learning and sharing .

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador in reply to namaha]

It's nice to have a nutritionist here who actually knows a lot about nutrition

As opposed to the other sort.

I'm assuming your MSc is somehow related to LCHF eating. What's the reaction from the Old Guard (the ones who have traditionally regarded all fat as evil, SFAs in particular)? Are things changing in academia now?

[namaha in reply to TheAwfulToad]

Thank you TheAwfulToad!

Yes , my favorite subject is clinical Nutrition which I have an ambition of doing a research/ PH.D after M.Sc.

Yes, I keep debating with my Proffessor on LCHF as a diet for T2.

To some extent they do agree. But again they would go as per Govt published Text books and would not openly make a statement.

The course is a challenging one with a complex mix of Bio- Chemistry and Microbiology.... I am still at a learning stage !

I too keep enjoying your posts which are very interesting!

Thanks !👍