Are saturated fats bad?
A patient gives me an important clue.
He was a 102 Kg American with symptoms of angina due to coronary artery disease.
He said that when his meal had meat, pork, cheese or butter, slightest exertion after the meal caused chest discomfort, whereas when he ate a Mediterranean like diet (fruits, salads, fish, nuts whole grains etc) he could walk a mile without chest discomfort.
We know that diet has long term impact on health, but what is less known is that it also has acute, short term effects, like my patient had.
A patient gives me an important clue.
He was a 102 Kg American with symptoms of angina due to coronary artery disease.
He said that when his meal had meat, pork, cheese or butter, slightest exertion after the meal caused chest discomfort, whereas when he ate a Mediterranean like diet (fruits, salads, fish, nuts whole grains etc) he could walk a mile without chest discomfort.
We know that diet has long term impact on health, but what is less known is that it also has acute, short term effects, like my patient had.
Saturated fats (like in cheese, meat etc) are known to acutely increase the thrombogenicity (tendency to clot) of blood and inability of coronary arteries to relax (endothelial dysfunction).
This was a direct evidence of the harmful effects of diet high in saturated fats in a patient with coronary disease.
Hence large consumption of bad quality fats (meats, cheese, butter, chicken or fried food etc) is not a good idea especially if you are above 30 or already have coronary artery disease or risk factors like abdominal obesity, physical inactivity, hypertension, diabetes, abnormal lipids (cholesterol), smoking, family history of coronary heart disease, etc. whereas consumption of moderate amounts of good quality fats (olive oil, that from fish and nuts) would be alright.
Trans fats and sugars are the worst and should be minimum in diet.
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