Two Ways of Looking at Fat

There are two distinct ways of looking at fat in foods. These two perspectives are not contradictory, just merely placing the emphasis on different aspects of the same thing. It is because we have been traditionally told to classify oils and fats as either saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated that we have been mislead about some fats and oils.

Under the normal system of deciding healthy from unhealthy foods we have been given the classifications mentioned above, with the bias being on polyunsaturated fats as being healthy and saturated fats as being unhealthy. The sheer weight of anecdotal evidence strongly contradicts this. In countries such as the USA and Australia nearly everything contains or has been cooked in polyunsaturated fats and yet obesity is at record highs in these 2 countries. And heart disease, diabetes and cancer are thriving in these countries too.

The other way to look at fats is to go down to the molecular level. All oils are made up of molecules called fatty acids. The alternative system of fat classification is to measure the molecular size or carbon chain within each fatty acid. This system produces 3 types of fatty acid: short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA), and long chain fatty acids (LCFA). Medium chain fatty acids are also known as medium chain triglycerides (MCTs).

Under this system we get interesting results: coconut oil contains mostly medium chain fatty acids, most other fats (vegetable, soy, safflower, sunflower, animal) are composed of long chain fatty acids.

Because our bodies find it easier to metabolize medium chain fatty acids they are much healthier for us than long chain fatty acids. MCTs provide 10% less calories than LCFA. And because MCTs are shorter they are easier to absorb by the body and more readily converted to fuel for the body. For this reason some athletes have turned to MCTs to improve stamina as an alternative to a high protein and low carbohydrate diet. There is now a growing body of scientific research to support the benefits of MCTs or MCFAs.

So, if we look at coconut oil as containing medium chain fatty acids it appears as a beneficial food stuff. It is a smokescreen to think of coconut oil as a saturated fat and therefore bad.

So stop thinking in terms of polyunsaturated and saturated fats and instead consider how long the carbon chain is. Long is bad and medium is good. For more reading go to http://www.nutritionreview.org/library/mcts.php

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Tags: medium chain fatty acid, long chain fatty acid, medium chain triglycerides, MCFA, MCT, polyunsaturated fat, saturated fat, ways of looking at fat