Why fats matter to your gut and general health

Dietary fats impact gut health

Why do you need fats?

Fats have been much misaligned, often without a rigorous scientific basis.

But in fact, eating the right balance of healthy fats in the correct way is vital to good health.

This is because…

  • Your body needs to obtain some fats from food as it doesn’t make them itself

  • Fats are the building blocks of your cell membranes and hormones, your body’s building blocks and messengers

  • Some fats are anti-inflammatory and therefore vital to health, although we need some of the right inflammatory fats too

  • They can support and help grow your good gut flora through this anti-inflammatory action, supporting immunity, nutrient absorption and general health

  • Fats also create balance or imbalance in your gut flora, potentially impacting your weight

  • They’re critical to brain and mental health, including in preventing dementia

  • Fats promote bone health

  • They also help prevent asthma

Fats also play numerous other key roles in the body. They…

  • Are a source of energy

  • Aid your absorption of Vits A, D, E, K

  • Form a protective lining for your body’s organs

  • Facilitate the proper use of proteins

  • Help regulate energy absorption by slowing it down

  • Make you feel satisfied

  • Make food taste good

Fats and your gut flora

Gut bacteria, or your mocrobiome, are important to your body. To put the role of your gut microbiome in context, there are 500 species, over 1 kilo and trillions of bacteria in your gut. They contain at least 100 times as many genes as you do, with their DNA outnumbering yours by 100.

Importantly, the more diverse your gut microbiome, the better your health.

A high fat (and carbohydrate) diet creates an imbalance of good microbes. We have two main kingdoms of bacteria called Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. Bacteroidetes fight inflammation and obesity. But a high fat (and carbohydrate) diet reduces their levels and at the same time raises Firmicutes levels, driving inflammation and obesity.

Research shows that eating too many saturated fats not only changes these bacterial communities in the gut, but increases inflammation markers.

One way dietary fats play a role in shaping your microbiome is through the communication that happens between your gut flora and the fats you eat, with your gut flora influencing how your body uses those fats and vice versa.

For example, overweight and obese people with metabolic disorders like diabetes have a greater proportion of unhealthy gut bacteria, which are capable of drawing surplus energy from their dietary nutrients, including fats.

Eating healthy fats is thus important to promoting healthier gut bugs, lowering inflammation and increasing weight loss.

Here are some examples of how healthy fat can make a difference.

A recent experimental study found that Omega-3 supplementation increases microbial diversity. Specifically, these bacteria are Bifidobacterium, Akkermansia muciniphila, and Lactobacillus. It also suppressed potentially harmful E. coli, detoxifies LPS (a toxin found in bacterial film), and balances gut microbiota.

  • EPA is the most powerful omega-3 for supporting gut health. It protects intestinal mucosa and reduces oxidative damage there. EPA reduces levels of gut inflammation and improves mucosa production, which helps protect your gut lining where your nutrients are absorbed and gut flora live

  • DHA has a beneficial impact on your brain health. It promotes healthy signal conduction and protects neurons in both your brain and digestive tract

  • DPA reduces pro-inflammatory cytokines (intercellular chemical messengers) and macroscopic damage

What fats should you eat?

Essential and conditionally essential fats

Omega-3 (Alpha-linolenic Acid, ALA) and Omega-6 (Linoleic Acid, LA) fats are essential because your body can’t make them. This means you need to obtain them from food.

These kinds of fat are polyunsaturated fats, meaning they’re liquid at room temperature and unstable. Often they’re best to eat in whole foods, or quality supplements made on specialised equipment.

If you eat a modern diet, you’re probably consuming way too many Omega-6 fats and far too little Omega-3s.

Omega-3 fats like fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines), walnuts, and flax and chia seeds are anti-inflammatory. Inflammation matters as it’s involved in 90% of disease, and especially modern chronic conditions.

On the other hand, Omega-6 fats like the vegetables oils found in most modern foods are pro-inflammatory. They’re found in soybean and corn oils, walnuts, sunflower seeds, almonds and cashews.

While you need some Omega-6 fats to help inflame your body as part of the healing process, you need enough anti-inflammatory Omega 3s as to step in and stop this process and complete healing. When you don’t have enough Omega-3s, your body remains in an inflamed state.

It’s also worth knowing that there are four conditionally essential fats, meaning that they can become essential under certain conditions of development or disease. These are Gamma-linolenic Acid (GLA), Arachidonic Acid (AA), Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) and DocosahexaenoicAcid (DHA). The first two are Omega-6 fats and the latter two are Omega-3s.

A note on fish or other oil tablets. While they can be a great adjunct to a healthy diet, they can vary in type and quality, and won't necessarily help you address poor eating habits.

Lesser known Omega 0, 7 and 9 fats

Omega-7 fatty acids are a class of mono-unsaturated fat.

Diets rich in omega-7 fatty acids have been shown to have beneficial health effects, such as increasing levels of HDL cholesterol and lowering levels of LDL cholesterol.

The two most common omega-7 fatty acids in nature are palmitoleic acid and vaccenic acid. Their richest sources include macadamia oil, avocado and sea buckthorn oil (berries used in supplements) in the form of palmitoleic acid, with dairy being main source of vaccenic acid and rumenic acid. 

Omega-9 fatty acids are monounsaturated fats. Oleic acid is the most common one.

While not strictly essential, this fat is found in most cells in your body.

Consuming foods rich in Omega-9 fatty has health benefits, including reducing disease-causing triglycerides and very-low-density-lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol in diabetes patients, and reducing inflammation and better insulin sensitivity compared to people eating high saturated fat diets.

Foods high in Omega-9 fats include olive oil, cashew nut oil, almond oil, avocado oil, almonds, cashews and walnuts.

Omega-0 fat includes coconut and palm oil. While they are saturated, they’re not like other fats.

This is because an alternative way of classifying fats is based on its molecular size or length of the carbon chain. There are short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), medium-chain fatty acids (MDFA), and long chain fatty acids (MCFA), also known as medium-chain triglycerides (MCT). 

Why does this matter? Because our bodies also respond to and use each fatty acid differently depending on its size.

Some 98 to 100% of the fats and oils you eat, whether they’re saturated or unsaturated and no matter their source, are long-chain fatty acids (LCFA).

Coconut oil contains MCFA. MCFAs do not have a negative effect on cholesterol, and in fact help protect you against heart disease. They also help your body to burn fat. 

There are only a few good dietary sources of MCFA, namely coconut oil and palm kernal oils.

What fats are safe to cook with?

It's important to know which fats are safe to cook with (or not).

This is because fats can withstand varying levels of heat. If certain fats are heated too high, they not only lose their nutritional value and flavour, but produce toxic fumes and disease-causing substances.

A fat is considered unsafe when it reaches its smoking point and begins to chemically break down and smoke. This is when its molecules turn into glycerol and free-fatty acids, which break down further to produce toxic fumes and free radicals. Free radicals can create disease, including cancer.

  • Safest cooking fats – Ghee, Tallow, Lard, Chicken fat, Goose fat, Duck fat, Red palm oil

  • Safer cooking fats – Olive oil, Butter, Macadamia oil, Sesame oil, Avocado oil, Peanut oil

  • Unsafe cooking fats – Safflower, Sunflower, Almond, Flax seed, Hemp seed, Black currant seed, Evening primrose, Grapeseed, Walnut, Rice bran, Pumpkin seed

Toxic fats & trans fats

There are some fats you should never consume because they're unhealthy (toxic, hybridised, rancid, man made, GMO etc).

These include Canola, Rapeseed, Corn, Cottonseed, Vegetable, Soybean, Margarine, Olive oil spreads, Vegetarian spreads, Vegetable shortening, Partially hydrogenated fat, Hydrogenated fat and Transfat.

Trans fat warrants a special mention. Trans fat is formed when manufacturers turn liquid oils into solid fats ie shortening, margarine and olive oil spreads, in a process called hydrogenation.

The consumption of processed trans fat (a small amount exists naturally in some foods) is associated with a 34% increase in all-cause mortality, a 28% increased risk of coronary heart disease mortality and a 21% increase in the risk of coronary heart disease.

Cholesterol

I can’t talk about fats without mentioning the much aligned cholesterol. Its reputation is largely non-scientific and unwarranted.

Cholesterol…

  • Plays many, largely protective roles

  • Is a steroid found in every cell of the body

  • Protects against oxidative stress, cancer and other free-radical induced diseases

  • Forms a protective layer around our nerve myelin sheaths

  • Is what our bile fats are made of

  • Is a precursor for every steroid hormone, including our reproductive and many adrenal ones

  • Is needed for Vit D synthesis

  • Is not actually predictive of cardiovascular risk

  • LDL is more predictive and should be considered in the context of the rest of someone's cardiovascular health e.g. other fat markers, inflammation, homocysteine and fibrinogen

  • Is mostly made by our body, and not found in our food. It’s that vital

Remember, eating healthy fats satiates you, meaning you're less likely to eat inflammatory foods like processed vegetables oils, sugar and refined carbs, which are actually what inflame your body and heart.

Summary

In short, eat a variety and balance of good fats prepared in the right way – fish, olive oil, nuts and seeds, and coconut oil – to help lower your inflammation and support your healthy gut bugs.

Food sources are often best as they come with a balance of other important nutrients to help you absorb and utilise them better.