The Dangers of Polyunsaturated Fats
Did you know that fish oil/ omega supplements and other polyunsaturated fats are one of the most damaging foods for not just your thyroid, but your overall health?
But because this series focuses on thyroid function, we will go over how they are responsible for a number of direct and secondary effects that suppress your thyroid.
Polyunsaturated fats became popular after farmers started using them to help their livestock quickly gain weight to get them to slaughter faster. The downside to this was that it created such disease that many of them didn’t make it to slaughter! So then these brilliant scientists “fixed” that issue by giving them antibiotics and vitamin E. Yet ANOTHER reason to only eat humanly raised and grass fed!
(Funny side story here- they actually tried coconut oil first but the cattle LOST weight! quick reminder that saturated fats are GOOD FOR YOU!)
You may recall from my previous posts, excess estrogen is bad for you. Well PUFAS can absolutely make estrogen issues even worse! The PUFAS in your bloodstream drive estrogen higher, and higher estrogen drives more polyunsaturated fats into your bloodstream.
Oxidized Fats
PUFAs are also easily oxidized. Because they’re inflammatory, oxidized fats are dangerous. Oxidation can occur during processing, shipping, improper storage or during the cooking process as the oxidation temperature is very low for PUFAs.
Chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity and heart disease are due to an increase of inflammation by eating oxidized fats.
Oxidation leads to free radicals, which leads to cellular damage in your body.
If you get your Omega-3s from whole foods like fish, oxidation is rarely to happen. But if it’s not stored or shipped properly or is just really low-quality, Omega-3 supplements are commonly oxidized.
PUFAS like soybean oil, corn oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, flaxseed oil, safflower oil, AND YES, EVEN FISH OIL) also interfere with your thyroid function on multiple levels.
From Hypothyroisim Revolution:
“These polyunsaturated fats directly block your Thyroid Hormone Pathway at ALL FIVE LEVELS!
They suppress your thyroid from secreting thyroid hormones.
They block the transportation of your thyroid hormone in your bloodstream to your cells.
They block your liver from converting inactive thyroid hormone to the active form that your cells need.
They block your cell receptors from accepting thyroid hormone.
And lastly, these fats block your cells from efficiently using the thyroid hormone that they do get.”
Here’s the thing- your body can actually create all the unsaturated fatty acids it needs, so there’s no reason at all to think they’re essential!
Top 3 takeaways:
AVOID POLYUNSATURATED FATS AND OILS AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE!!! (studies indicate that the risk of cancer and degenerative disease increases significantly with the consumption of as little as a TEASPOON of polyunsaturated fat per day!)
Switch to healthy saturated fats like grass fed butter, ghee, and coconut oil. Extra virgin olive oil and extra virgin avocado oils can be used as they both have small percentage of polyunsaturated fat, while also having a variety of antioxidants that help offset the harmful effects. But not the best choice, and still only a couple teaspoons per day! Extra virgin olive oil isn’t the best to cook with as it has a low heat point, causing it to oxidize! Avocado oil is much higher and you can fry with it- although refined coconut oil would still be best!)
Take Vitamin E daily!! Read more on this post:
REMINDER- these PUFAS are in EVERYTHING! Chips, tortillas, cereal, crackers, bread, pizzas, cookies ….most restaurants use them to cook in because they’re cheap! You MUST be diligent in avoiding these!!!! Your life literally depends on it!
Disclaimer: Medical Disclaimer. The information posted is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It is for general information purposes only.