Studies have repeatedly failed to find an association between full-fat dairy and cardiovascular events. In fact, full-fat dairy actually reduces your risk of cardiovascular events and deaths. Dairy products are also associated with lower risks of Type 2 diabetes, liver disease, and more.
Whole-fat dairy contains odd-chain saturated fats (OCFAs), which have significant health benefits. OCFAs are found only in small amounts in certain foods, primarily dairy fat, and your body only makes one type of OCFA. Researchers now believe one OCFA may be an essential fat, as your body cannot make it. Higher circulating levels of OCFAs in the blood are associated with lower risks of obesity, chronic inflammation, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, Type 2 diabetes, NASH, COPD, pancreatic cancer, and all-cause mortality.
OCFAs do not inhibit glucose burning because they are not converted to acetyl-CoA; rather, they enter the Krebs Cycle as succinyl-CoA. This means that you don’t need to restrict your consumption of full-fat dairy, as it won’t affect your ability to burn glucose. Instead, full-fat dairy reduces your risk of cardiovascular events and deaths. Dairy products are also associated with lower risks of Type 2 diabetes, liver disease, and more. Whole-fat dairy contains health-promoting compounds such as specific amino acids, unsaturated, medium-chain, and branched-chain fats, odd-chain saturated fats, phospholipids, vitamins and minerals, and probiotics.
Recent research suggests that odd-chain saturated fats are likely one of the most essential fats in the human diet, unlike linoleic acid that most foods are loaded with. It’s virtually impossible to become deficient in linoleic acid outside of a laboratory diet. The same cannot be said for OCFAs. You need to get them from dairy, as that’s the primary source. A 2020 scientific report titled “Efficacy of Dietary Odd-Chain Saturated Fatty Acid Pentadecanoic Acid Parallels Broad Associated Health Benefits in Humans: Could It Be Essential?” stated that higher circulating concentrations of OCFAs are associated with lower risks of cardiometabolic diseases, and higher dietary intake of OCFAs is associated with lower mortality.
The low-fat recommendation has been around for more than 40 years, and since that time cholesterol levels and heart disease rates have gone in the opposite direction of what was intended. In the two decades following that recommendation, average intake of whole fat milk dropped significantly, yet prevalence of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and NAFLD rose to new heights. Meanwhile, researchers found that people who consumed whole fat milk had lower risks of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. At the same time, consumption of linoleic acid skyrocketed as saturated fats were replaced with processed seed oils, and we now have robust evidence showing that excessive linoleic acid is a key driver of these chronic diseases, as it destroys mitochondrial function and metabolism.
Milk contains several different kinds of fat. About 68% of the fats are even-chain saturated fats, the primary ones being myristic acid, palmitic acid, and stearic acid. The odd-chain saturated fat pentadecanoic acid represents only 1% of the fat content, and another OCFA makes up 0.5% of the total. Previous studies have shown that higher dietary intake of OCFAs, and subsequently higher circulating levels of OCFAs in the blood, is associated with lower risks of obesity, chronic inflammation, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome.
Type 2 diabetes, NASH, COPD, pancreatic cancer, and all-cause mortality. Dr. Paul Saladino reviews studies showing similar benefits for butter. For example, one study found people who ate about 1.5 tablespoons of butter per day had lower levels of inflammation.
To understand how OCFAs affect human health and prevent disease, a variety of studies were conducted. These studies found that one specific OCFA is a dual, partial agonist for certain receptors, effective at reducing proinflammatory and profibrotic states in human cell systems. This study supports that a minor increase in this OCFA concentrations can positively impact its anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic activities.
Daily supplementation of this OCFA at specific doses improved various health indices in animal models. This includes lowering inflammation, glucose, and cholesterol levels in obese mice and improving liver health. The studies also demonstrated that this OCFA had no off-target pharmacological activities and was noncytotoxic across human cell systems.
Based on these findings, researchers concluded that this particular OCFA is most likely an essential fatty acid. Chronic low-grade inflammation, driven by proinflammatory chemokines and cytokines, contributes to cardiometabolic comorbidities and the aging process. Daily oral supplementation with OCFAs lowered proinflammatory states in obese mice with metabolic syndrome, as well as lowered proinflammatory biomarkers in human cell systems. Dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia, components of metabolic syndrome, were also positively impacted by daily oral supplementation of this OCFA.
Interestingly, OCFAs are only partially metabolized via the beta-oxidation pathway. In this pathway, fats are first converted to acetyl-CoA, which allows them to enter the Krebs Cycle. OCFAs, in contrast, are first converted into succinic acid, then succinyl-CoA, which then enters the Krebs Cycle and helps support electron transfer in the mitochondria. Georgi Dinkov, an expert on bioenergetic medicine, explains that eating a diet high in fat with mostly even-chain fats would result in a reduction of glucose metabolism. However, with odd-chain fats, no such reduction is expected. In fact, certain OCFAs were described in studies as stimulating mitochondrial function and ATP production, ultimately resulting in improved hair growth.
In conclusion, the take-home message is that dairy fat is a crucial source of an essential fat that your body needs and cannot make. A long list of studies has shown that this and other OCSFs improve mitochondrial function, lower your risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, promote healthy hair growth, lower inflammation, and much more. While you can drink whole fat milk, consuming high-quality butter or ghee is an easier way to get these odd chain saturated fats. Butter has 20 times the fat concentration of whole fat milk, and ghee has 25 times the fat. A reasonable dose for most people is 1 tablespoon of butter a day, but it would be unwise to go over 5 tablespoons a day. High-quality butters are difficult to purchase commercially, but organic ghee can be an accessible option.
The document concludes with the understanding that milk fats do not inhibit glucose metabolism and that a balanced intake of fats, including OCFAs, is crucial for maintaining good health.
Any opinions, views and beliefs represented in this article are personal and belong solely to the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the opinion, views and beliefs of the organisation and employees of New Image™ International
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