Saturated Fat: Do you want a BUTTER brain, or a BETTER brain?

To sat fat, or not to sat fat - that has been a recent question.  Perhaps we should rephrase the question:  do you want a BUTTER brain, or a BETTER brain?

I have been frustrated and concerned that recently some fad diet writers have been pushing (and selling) the idea that saturated fat is some kind of a health food, or health miracle.  Saturated fat is the fat found in butter, full-fat cheese, fatty red meat, fried food.  I suppose some people will say anything in order to sell a book or product (and yes I'm looking at you, Nina Teicholz, and you, the guy who has been telling people to put butter in their coffee!)   We've long known that excess saturated fat raises inflammation in the body, worsens insulin resistance (a precursor to diabetes), and can even create inflammation in the brain which can interfere with 'fullness signals' - AND raise bad cholesterol levels, to boot.  Now new research shows that excess saturated fat is associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer's disease - AND we can lower our risk of Alzheimer's by adopting a diet LOW in butter, beef, fried food, and sugary-fatty desserts, and  HIGHER in healthy foods such as leafy greens, berries, some beans, nuts, fish, olive oil, poultry, whole grains, and even a little red wine!  (That sounds pretty good to me!)   The research was published online on March 19, in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia:  The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.   http://www.alzheimersanddementia.com/article/S1552-5260(15)00017-5/abstract

The healthy diet is called the MIND diet, and is a blend of the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet.   Here is an excellent article on the new research:  https://www.rush.edu/news/diet-may-help-prevent-alzheimers  How much of a difference did the diet make?  Those who adhered rigorously to the diet lowered their risk of Alzheimer's by as much as 53% - and good news for those of us who are less than perfect - those who adhered 'moderately well' still lowered their risk of Alzheimer's by 35%.   Pretty impressive.

Exactly what is in this super-healthy MIND diet?   Daily salads with abundant leafy greens, moderate amounts of nuts almost every day, olive oil as the primary fat source, berries at least twice a week, beans and whole grains daily, fish at least once a week, poultry at least twice a week, and a little red wine (I suspect you could substitute grapes or raisins).  What is NOT in this diet?  You guessed it - the healthy eaters severely cut back on butter (less than 1 tbs per day), beef, full fat cheese, fried and fast food, and pastries/sweets.

Put these on your shopping list:

Brain-healthy foods:

• Green leafy vegetables
• Other vegetables
• Nuts
• Berries
• Beans
• Whole grains
• Fish
• Poultry
• Olive oil
• Wine 

Keep these off the shopping list:

The five unhealthy groups are:  

• Red meats
• Butter and stick margarine
• Cheese
• Pastries and sweets
• Fried or fast food"

 Read more here:  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/291073.php

And if that's not enough to convince you, check out more research on saturated fat:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4277346/
PLoS One. 2014; 9(12): e115642.

Published online 2014 Dec 26. doi:  10.1371/journal.pone.0115642

"Overnutrition-induced metabolic dysfunction is a severe health concern in both industrialized and developing countries. Sustained exposure to excess dietary fatty acids (FA) causes lipid accumulation in non-adipose tissues with limited storage capacity. This lipotoxicity causes cellular stresses and inflammation that lead to cell damage [1], and in peripheral tissues contributes to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome [2], [3]. The hypothalamus is similarly vulnerable to lipotoxicity. The hypothalamus senses availability of nutrients, including fat, to control food intake and regulate energy balance [4], [5]. However, elevated saturated FA is sufficient to induce lipotoxic stress in the hypothalamus and attenuate responses to insulin and leptin negative feedback, contributing to dietary-induced obesity (DIO) and attendant metabolic dysfunction [6]–[8]."

And this: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/36714

"An acute increase in plasma fatty acids by lipid infusion causes insulin resistance in animals (43) as well as in healthy and diabetic humans (44–47), potentially by altering insulin signaling downstream of PI3K (28, 43). Recently, we extended these findings to include fatty acid inhibition of insulin signaling in hypothalamic circuits that control energy homeostasis (10)….Many recent reports have linked insulin resistance with other disorders of the CNS, including Alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment …"

Or you can forget science, and listen to gobbledegook spouted by someone trying to make a buck - or a million - off us:  http://gizmodo.com/bulletproof-coffee-debunking-the-hot-buttered-hype-1681321467

Pass me the olive oil.  I'll take a pass on the disgusting butter coffee.