jyb said:haidut said:So, my main point is that burning sugar is definitely preferable to burning fat based on both Peat's writings and all the studies I have seen about liver disease being caused by increased lipid peroxidation byproducts, and cirrhosis (in alcoholic rats) being easily and succesfully treated by feeding about 60g-70g of saturated fat like butter or coconut oil for a week, while the rats kept drinking alcohol at the same time! So, on the point of burning sugar I think the question is settled that it is preferable to burning fat.
Haidut, thanks for the long post.
In the paragraphs about burning sugar being preferable to burning fat, how do you know? For me it has been a grey area of Ray's articles. I keep reading but they don't give a clear indication of how much sugar and/or fat. Of course, I'm talking about saturated, not pufa.
There are many things that seem good about saturated fat. Including CO2 or raising T3/T4 well, according to studies. From my experience, a good and generous source of saturated fat is essential for everything metabolic: cortistol (or stress), temperature, mood, sleep etc. So, surprisingly if I use many of Ray's teaching (eat whatever raises your metabolism), I often conclude fat should take a key role... In contrast, I find it much less important to get a huge amount of sugar. For things like starch, I find its the contrary (important to limit the amount).
Maybe I should have said burning sugar is preferable to burning PUFA, but even burning saturated fat generates less CO2 than burning glucose/fructose, at least based on the studies I have seen. Also, I posted a study long time ago that showed burning fat (saturated or otherwise) resulted in elevated serotonin. I don't know the specifics but in theory fatty acids in the blood, from any type of fat, would displace tryptophan from albumin and shuttle it to the brain resulting in elevated serotonin in the brain. Can't remember if this was the reason for elevated serotonin in that study, but something to keep in mind. Finally, overfeeding on saturated fat (let alone PUFA) WILL result in weight gain as Peat himself has said many times.
I can certainly see the place of saturated fat for therapeutic purposes, since the studies on liver disease showed that the saturated fat healed the liver by both inhibiting PUFA oxidation damage to liver cells and also by uncoupling the mitochondria of liver cells. But I am not sure we have evidence that it is healthy to rely on fat as the main source of fuel in the long run. Does anybody know of studies on ketogenic diets using saturated fat only/primarily?