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Saturated Fats

Saturated fatty acids are loaded with hydrogen atoms to the point that they cannot accommodate any more hydrogen—thus the term “saturated.” Most of these types of fats or oils are solid at room temperature. Animal fat and butter fat are examples of saturated fats. Saturated fats have been shown to raise blood cholesterol, putting you at risk for heart disease and strokes.

Monounsaturated Fats

Monounsaturated fatty acids have one double bond in the fatty acid chain and are liquid at room temperature. Examples of monounsaturated oils are canola oil and olive oil. Up to 70 to 80 percent of the fatty acid in these popular oils are monounsaturated. These types of fats can improve your cholesterol profile by raising your good cholesterol (HDL) and lowering your bad cholesterol (LDL). For this reason, I recommend these types of oils as your main cooking oils. 

Polyunsaturated Fats

Polyunsaturated fatty acids have two or more double bonds in their chain. They are liquid at room temperature and remain in their liquid form in the refrigerator. (The more double bonds on the carbon chain, the more unsaturated the oil and the less likely the oil will thicken when refrigerated.)Flaxseed oil and fish oils are the most highly unsaturated of all the oils. These types of fatty acids are heart healthy in that they can lower your bad cholesterol (LDL) and raise your good cholesterol (HDL).

Trans-fatty Acids

Trans-fatty acids are partially hydrogenated vegetable oils such as corn oil found in margarines and other convenience foods. Processed foods contain this type of oil as they can sit on the grocery shelf for months on end. As a result of hydrogenation (adding a hydrogen molecule to the chain of carbons), trans-fatty acids behave in many ways like saturated fats and can actually be even more destructive by raising your bad cholesterol (LDL) and lowering your good cholesterol (HDL). French fries, doughnuts, cookies, chips and other snack food are high in trans-fatty acids. In fact, nearly all fried or baked goods have some form of trans-fatty acids. Switching from butter to margarine is not such a good idea after all.

Essential Fatty Acids

Omega-3 oils and omega-6 oils are polyunsaturated oils.  Omega-3 fatty acids have their first double bond between the third and fourth carbon atoms and are called omega-3.  Omega-6 fatty acids have their first double bond between the sixth and seventh carbon atoms. Oils such as corn oil, safflower, sunflower and peanut oils are high in omega-6 fatty acids where as, oils such as canola, walnut and flaxseed are high in omega-3 oils.

Omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids are considered essentially fatty acids in that they cannot be manufactured within our body and only can be consumed from the diet.  Our body eventually converts these important acids into other types of acids called eicosanoids (eye-KOSS-uh-noids.) The eicosanoids produced by omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids have opposite functions in the body.

New research into the polyunsaturated oils have shown that the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids have a dramatically different effect on your health. 

To understand how omega-3 and omega-6 fats affect your health, one has to understand how these fats are converted to the hormone-like substances that actually affect your health.

The primary fatty acid in the Omega 6 family is called linoleic (lin-oh-LAY-ik) acid and the Omega-3 family is alpha-linolenic (lin-oh-LEN-ik) acid. When these essential fatty acids are consumed, they interact with certain enzymes in the body.  As a result of this chemical reaction, they become desaturated by losing a hydrogen atom which increases the number of double bonds in their chain. The chain also becomes longer by adding more carbon atoms. 

If your diet is high in omega-6 oils, your body will produce more of the type of eicosanoids that actually can increase your risk for inflammation and the development asthma and allergies (linoleic acid converts to arachidonic acid, which in turn is converted to leukotrienes.)  Leukotrienes are inflammatory substances found in the lungs of asthmatics.  When an asthma attack occurs, these eicosanoids can increase up to three times higher in the lungs of asthmatics verses those with out asthma. Steroids are often used to block the production leukotrienes and are commonly used to treat a number of asthmatic patients. As mentioned before, omega -3 fatty acids work in opposition to omega 6 in that they too block the production of these inflammatory hormones in the lung. 

In addition to higher levels of leukotrienes as a result of too much omega-6 in your diet, two other eicosanoids are formed which can lead to increased inflammation (prostaglandins) and increased risk for clots (thromboxanes).

The latter (for obvious reasons), is important to help stop the bleeding when you cut yourself.  It is when we form clots with in the blood vessel, disease of the heart and brain occurs. People at high risk for these problems are given an aspirin a day in order to block the formation of thromboxane. Therefore, a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids will slow the formation of blood clots in the body.

Prostaglandins are hormones that play a crucial role in our body’s response to inflammation. They are produced and released by nearly every cell in the body with the exception of red blood cells. When arachidonic acid interacts with the enzyme cyclo-oxygenase, prostaglandins are formed. The hormone like affect of prostaglandins results in inflammatory reactions causing pain and fevers. An example of how prostaglandins effect the body is when a women experiences menstrual pain (dysmenorrhea). Prostaglandins are overproduced during menstruation causing a lot of discomfort. Aspirin and other anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen short-circuit their production in order to relieve menstrual pain. A diet high in omega -3 fatty acids as seen in the Dakota Diet will have a similar effect resulting in less discomfort during menstruation.

The body needs a balance of the essential fatty acids as it is important to fight infection by having an inflammatory response when infection occurs. It is equally important to stop the bleeding when we cut ourselves. When our diet is overloaded with omega-6 fatty acids and deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, disease occurs. The typical American diet has a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 of twenty to one. A healthily balance should be around four to one.

Deficiencies of omega-3 fatty acids have also been linked to impulsive and aggressive behavior in adults as well as children. Another consequence of growing up deficient in omega-3 fatty acids is attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Studies have shown that boys with ADHD had significantly lower levels of two hormone by-products of omega-3 fatty acids. Yet another study found rats fed a diet deficient in omega-3 fatty acids had less synaptic vesicles (packages in the brain that store chemicals in order for one nerve ending to communicate with another nerve ending).  Their counterparts fed a diet enriched with omega-3 resulted in more synaptic vesicles and improved learning. 

Unfortunately, you will have to take matters into your own hands by avoiding products that contain unhealthy fats. The good news is that we have a choice in what types of foods we consume. All you have to do is eat what our local farmers and ranchers are producing right in our back yard. The Dakota Diet is a diet that will give you a better balance of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids than the typical Western diet consumed today.

The grasses on the plains of the Dakota’s have enough nutrients to give us a healthy balance of fats.  Buffalo, wild game and cattle fed on the range of the Dakotas are loaded with vital nutrients, iron, antioxidants as well as a healthy ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. When these animals are fed commercially (as in a feed lot), the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 drastically changes. Range-fed animals of the Dakotas are not only lower in omega-6 and higher in omega-3 then their feed lot counter parts; they are lower in saturated fats and cholesterol as well.

We need to retrain our thinking on what is produced and consumed in America. Common belief is that our palate finds marbled beef tastier and therefore, the rancher will produce a meat with a higher fat content.  When prepared properly, range-fed buffalo, game and beef are just as palatable as their counterparts, and because they are grass fed, they have a blend of fats that have been proven to promote optimal health. But until the government and the food industry recognize the importance of eating a balanced ratio of these essential fatty acids, you must take matters into your own hands. As you begin to read the nutrition labels on the foods you buy, I hope I have given you a better understanding of what types of fats you are consuming to safe-guard your health.

Dietary fats: The saturation scale

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©2006 The Dakota Diet, Dr. Kevin Weiland