Fat to blame for insulin resistance, not sugar

[Mushroom]

Article on this website today. I know this is about development of diabetes but where does it leave a diabetic on a Low Carb/High Fat diet? Any thoughts?

 

[librarising]

Mushroomwrote
where does it leave a diabetic on a Low Carb/High Fat diet? Any thoughts?

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2012/Sep ... 04896.html

If you read carefully, they blame free fatty acids, and not saturated fats. They use 'common knowledge' that saturated fat will be responsible for fat in the blood and clogging up your arteries. Since this has never been proven, an erroneous link is therefore possibly made.
Carbohydrates are said by some to be responsible for higher triglycerides (a type of fatty acid)

Until I can find out more about this study (which isn't linked by DCUK's article) I'm carrying on low carbing, and eating as much saturated fat as before.
The study is always the best place to go. Not the sensationalist headline.

Geoff

 

[librarising]

Found a bit more here

http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v18/n8 ... 851-S1.pdf

Nothing to do with humans eating saturated fat.
All to do with mice being given some artificial 'food.'

Geoff

 

[Mushroom]

Hi Geoff, thanks for the two replies. Will have a look at the references. (Those lab mice have a lot to answer for). Yes, the original study would be better to read. I am determined to keep on eating my rare steaks plus the yummy fat!
Mary

 

[Mushroom]

Hi again. Oh my word, that study is a tough one to decipher. Perhaps, I will photocopy it and get my DSN to explain it to me. Ha, ha!
Mary

 

[librarising]

When I discovered saturated fat was good for me, I also found out that polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) were possibly bad for me.
I now avoid them.
The article referred to inflammation. Another article I found links PUFAs to inflammation.

These results showed that specific unsaturated dietary fatty acids, such as linoleic acid and to a lesser extent
linolenic acid, can stimulate the development of proinflammatory environments within the vascular endothelium.

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/75/1/119.full.pdf

Geoff

 

[IanD]

This reports my correspondence with the presenter of a lecture at the Hounslow group last October 2011, which reported the dangers of sat fats, & the protective effect of linolenic acid - fed to rats suffering from palmitic acid as linseeds.

As I see it, looking at the components of fats in isoolation & in unnatural combinations is not good research, especially when the problems don't occur in natural foods.

My letter:

I was very interested in your presentation at Hounslow last Tuesday, particularly because my Dr is monitoring my kidney function. My eGFR has been around 60 for several years, while my wife's is around 55. My wife's brother had a transplant 21 years ago.

Your work with EK on "Alpha-Linolenic acid protects renal cells against palmitic acid lipotoxicity via inhibition of endoplasmic reticulum stress" was of particular concern - my low carb diet includes significant amounts of animal fats. I also eat nuts & use olive oil in my cooking. I could only access the title of your papers.

I did a google search for palmitic acid & found "Palmitic acid: the horror never ends" http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/ ... -ends.html
Quote: "Oleate alone did not cause mtROS generation and mtDNA damage, and its addition to palmitate prevented palmitate-induced mtDNA damage, increased total ATP levels and cell viability, and prevented palmitate-induced apoptosis and inhibition of insulin-stimulated Akt (Ser(473)) phosphorylation." That confirms Elias findings using a-linolenic acid.

That referred me to: "A low-carbohydrate diet may prevent end-stage renal failure in type 2 diabetes. A case report." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16774676
Quote: "An obese patient with type 2 diabetes whose diet was changed from the recommended high-carbohydrate, low-fat type to a low-carbohydrate diet showed a significant reduction in bodyweight, improved glycemic control and a reversal of a six year long decline of renal function."

These studies indicate that while palmitic acid alone is harmful, in it's natural combination in fatty foods any harmful effect is neutralised, while, as part of a low carb diet, fatty foods enhance health.

You will appreciate that there is on-going concern about fats in our diet & I would appreciate your comments.

Regards,

Ian Day

====
Dear Ian,


Frist of all, my apologies for the delay in replying to you but things have been very busy back at the University and I have also been preparing for a PhD viva which I will be examining next week. I'm now currently attending a conference which has actually given me time to catch up with a backlog of e-mails.


I'm glad you enjoyed my talk in Hounslow last month and that it literally gave you food for thought. As requested, I have attached a PDF copy of Elias's paper which was published in the European Journal of Pharmacology back in 2009 and which I based a lot of my talk on.



As you have mentioned, this study confirmed the findings of other studies that linolenic acid (an unsaturated fatty acid) was able to provide good protection against the renal lipotoxic effects of palmitic acid - a saturated fatty acid and is a component of animal and milk fats. This confirmed the findings of Noel Morgan's group at Peninsula Med School who looked have observed a similar effect on pancreatic beta cells.



I would certainly agree that a low carbohydrate diet can be beneficial especally when it is combined with a reasonably low fat diet which is supplemented by an good intake of unsaturated fatty acids as in your current diet which includes nuts (a good source of unsatuareted fatty acids).



However, my concern is that some people are reducing their carbohydrate intake (which is beneficial) but still have a relatively high intake of saturated fatty acids in thier diet. I would suggest that this puts considerable strain on renal (and other) cells and increase the chances of developing diabetic nephropathy and other complications. This risk may be increased could be reduced by an increased intake of unsaturated fatty acids. However, the best way to reduce the risk would be for these people to reduce their saturated fatty acid intake overall.



So my overall advice would be that moderation with regards to sataurated fatty acid intake would be best regardless of carbohydrate intake (which has its own benefits) - so please keep spreading the toast with butter (but maybe not too thickly and certainly not to excess). There is no real problem with a healthy intake of saturated fatty acids - infact they are good for you at reasonable amounts. However, someone eating 20 slices of buttered toast a day may be putting themsleves at risk!