The Truth About Saturated Fat

What’s all the fuss about anyway?

Dietary villains don’t come much more high-profile than saturated fat. For years now, it’s been nutrition public enemy number one, blamed for clogging arteries and increasing the risk of heart disease. But in recent times, a controversial legion of health experts and commentators have come out suggesting we could have been a little too harsh on saturated fat.

Their argument? The anti-saturated fat campaign has failed to solve society’s heavy burden of obesity and chronic disease, and what’s more, not all research implicates it in heart disease. At the extreme end of the spectrum is author Sarah Wilson, who declares on her blog: “I eat chicken skin. And butter. And coconut oil. All saturated. All good.” Which begs the question: is it really?

But what do nutritionists think?

There’s no denying that pro sat folks are at odds with the current Australian Dietary Guidelines, which advise limiting foods that contain it. But the debate isn’t as simple as whether sat fat is good or bad. “The real confusion is around food sources of saturated fat,” explains Barbara Meyer, director of the University of Wollongong’s Lipid Research Centre.

“The saturated fat in some foods isn’t as bad in terms of cardiovascular disease risk as the kind found in others.” For instance, meat contains stearic acid, a type of sat fat that has a neutral effect on cholesterol levels, while the main fatty acid in coconut products (oil, milk and cream) – lauric acid – increases both HDL (good) and LDL (bad) cholesterol, without disrupting the balance between the two.

“The real culprits are palmitic and myristic acid (found in biscuits, cakes and chips) which spike LDL cholesterol, a known risk factor for heart disease,” says Meyer. These ‘bad’ sat fats are also found in dairy, although the overall nutrient profile of diary foods seems to trump their sat fats.
Some studies show cheese actually lowers LDL cholesterol. In short, not all saturated fasts are created equal.

So, what does that mean for your diet?

If the type of saturated fat found in meat, coconut oil and full-fat dairy isn’t as harmful as we once thought, does that mean fried haloumi is your new go-to snack? Not so fast. “Your saturated fat intake has to be considered in the context of a balanced diet,” adds Meyer. That means keeping your overall kilojoule intake in check, eating mainly fresh produce and avoiding blatantly unhealthy sat fats (namely processed foods). Do that, and you can have your full-fat yoghurt – and eat it too.

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