The Nutritional Missing Link
Book Review: Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill by Udo Erasmus (Burnaby, BC: Alive Books, 1993).
Clinical nutrition focuses a lot of attention on micronutrients: vitamins, minerals, and other co-factors. Much debate in general nutrition surrounds proper ratios of proteins and carbohydrates. The key player that is ignored in all of this is, of course, the other macronutrient: lipids. Sure, you've heard the general comments: Lower your intake of total fat and cholesterol, and try to avoid saturated fats. This is good advice, but it only represents half the story of this important class of molecules.
Anyone interested in clinical nutrition needs to know the information in this volume. Recommendations of fish or flax oil are good, but this book will give the chiropractic physician the background necessary to understand these and other powerful nutrients, and to use them in a more targeted, effective manner. In Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill, Erasmus explores the importance of essential fatty acids for good health. He goes into remarkable depth on the subject, from a review of the basic biochemistry (no need to dust off Stryer or Lehninger) to specific clinical applications. This volume is highly readable, and its brief chapters are thoroughly cross-referenced, so you can dive into any interesting section if you don't want to read cover to cover.
Chapters 3-13 summarize the biochemistry of lipids, and are well worth a careful perusal before jumping ahead to other chapters. Here you can refresh your memory about saturated and unsaturated fats, cholesterol, phospholipids, and even cell membrane structure. Erasmus devotes much attention to the essential fatty acids (EFAs)--those in the omega-3 and omega-6 families, which our body cannot synthesize from other lipids. A large percentage of Americans do not consume adequate amounts of omega-3 fats, leading to an imbalance of the ideal 3:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids.
The next section, though somewhat technical, is worth a glance. This overview of the oil manufacturing process will provide insight into the extent of damage that oils sustain in their journey from their source to the supermarket shelves. Light, heat, and oxygen can damage unsaturated fats, creating dangerous compounds--which means that cooking with unsaturated oils may not be as good of an idea as most people believe. This assertion and others about such things as canola oil, tropical oils, margarine, and butter may surprise you.
Chapters 31-41 explore how the human body uses fats. Some material is repetitive from earlier chapters, but this derives from the modular construction of the book. The myriad of important roles for EFAs in body structure and function is astounding, from sturdy blood vessel construction to proper inflammatory balance via prostaglandins. Erasmus also offers advice on weight management.
Section Five may be useful mostly for reference, delineating the fat content of various specific foods, broken down by type of fat. For example, meat from wild game contains only a fraction of the saturated fat as domesticated meat, as well as a much greater amount of EFAs.
The next two sections are the most clinically interesting. Section Six describes the best sources for the various types of healing oils, from flax to fish to evening primrose, even touching on the much-maligned snake oil! Not all beneficial oils are created equal; the difference in the type and amount of EFAs they contain can be exploited for different therapeutic purposes.
Section Seven lists numerous disease conditions that may be amenable to treatment with EFA supplementation. Diabetes, multiple sclerosis, auto-immune diseases, AIDS, and cancer are among the degenerative conditions described.
Some portions of this book are touched with Erasmus's personal beliefs and prejudices, such as an occasional "preachy" style, or a recounting of controversial theories about cholesterol and cardiovascular disease. My main concern with the volume is that in an effort to make it more accessible to general readers, there are no specific references in the text. There is a general bibliography at the end, which consists mostly of books rather than journal articles. The vast majority of the information, though, is well-balanced and objective. The detailed index and glossary make it quite user-friendly, and a perfect reference for nutrition practitioners.
Reprinted from The Synapse, June 1998.
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