SATURATED FATTY ACIDS IN THE BLOOD ARE NOT AN APPROPRIATE MARKER OF DIETARY FAT INTAKE BUT ARE RATHER A MARKER OF CARBOHYDRATE INTAKE. And, according to one recent study, those with the highest blood levels of saturated fats were twice as likely to develop diabetes as those with the lowest.
To wit: A study out of the University of Minnesota (Am J Clin Nutr 2003 July:78(1):91-8), and reported in the December, 2003 issue of "Prevention Magazine", found that among 3000 people tested, those with the highest blood levels of saturated fats were twice as likely to develop diabetes as those with the lowest.
According to Aaron Folsom, MD, one author of the study, Saturated fats in the blood appear to affect your body’s ability to effectively use insulin, the hallmark of type-2 diabetes. Naturally this report was followed by warnings not to eat saturated fats like butter, cream and the fat on meat.
But Dr. Folsom makes an error common to those not trained in fatty acid metabolism. A high level of saturated fatty acids in the blood is reflective of high carohydrate intake and subsequent synthesis of fatty acids from excess carbohydrates. SATURATED FATTY ACIDS ARE NOT AN APPRORIATE MARKER OF DIETARY FAT INTAKE BUT ARE RATHER A MARKER OF CARBOHYDRATE INTAKE. What the researchers at the University of Minnesota actually discovered (or rather, reaffirmed) was that people who eat a lot of carbohydrates are more likely to develop diabetes.
Cited from page 11 of the Spring 2004 issue of "Wise Traditions", a magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation.