Balancing Fat

[Porovoz]

Simple, yet complicated question: how much of each majour subgroupings of fat should I be eating relative to each other? That is, what is the balance to aim for between saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and natural trans fats?

[Ironman]

The Omega 6 to Omega 3 should be 6:1 or lower if I remember right and that is all that matters. Other fats you can eat however much of as you want.

[stuward]

I go into in more details in the stickies. The ratio of O6:O3 should be 2:1 or better. 1:1 is optimal and resembles our paleo ancestor's diet. A 6:1 ratio would cause illness.

Things I've learned since writing the sticky:


On a low carb/high fat diet you can get away with more saturated fat. The negative aspects of Sat fats are made worse by carbs.

Early researchers confused sat fats and trans fats. Much of what we fear about sat fats is wrong.

CLA is the main beneficial trans fat. It is abundant in grass fed meat. You don't need to supplement if your meat is grass fed.

Most recommend a ratio of 1/3 sat, 1/3 pufa, 1/3 mufa. In reality, no one knows and it's probably not important.

Stu

[pdellorto]

The "7 rules" from Dr. Berardi says this:

5. Ensure that 25-35% of your energy intake comes from fat, with your fat intake split equally between saturates (e.g. animal fat), monounsaturates (e.g., olive oil), and polyunsaturates (e.g. flax oil, salmon oil).

Hope that helps.

[Porovoz]

Hope that helps.

It does! Thank-you very much.

On a low carb/high fat diet you can get away with more saturated fat. The negative aspects of Sat fats are made worse by carbs.

Is the same true for a low carb, moderate fat diet?

[stuward]

Hope that helps.

It does! Thank-you very much.

On a low carb/high fat diet you can get away with more saturated fat. The negative aspects of Sat fats are made worse by carbs.

Is the same true for a low carb, moderate fat diet?

If you're low carb, by definition, you're high fat. You're probably high protein as well.