How saturated fat can improve memory and fend off dementia

It plays a crucial role in cognitive function, so stop bad-mouthing this unrecognised food hero.

It is said that half of what is taught in medical school is wrong, but nobody knows which half. I would add that at least half of what is taught in nutrition school is also wrong. Once you do the research, the real facts start to emerge, even if to little acclaim.

The demonisation of saturated fat is a case in point. I too in my early post-grad days held forth on ‘bad’ fats (saturated, obvs) and ‘good’ fats (polyunsaturated, obvs), with the courage of my convictions and education.

It was conveniently simple. Simple means easy to understand, and to communicate. It’s a strategy that also works well for vested commercial interests with their own message to communicate, but that’s another story.

Saturated fat is still riding low in the health food rankings. It shouldn’t be: not only is it harmless, it is crucial for many biological functions, not least of all brain function. Without it you may experience memory loss and other neurodegenerative health conditions.

The first thing to understand is that ‘saturated fat’ is a misnomer. There are lots of different types of saturated fatty acids, each with a separate identity, structure and function. So from hereon in I’ll refer to saturated fats, or saturated fatty acids (SFAs).

There are some SFAs you may already have heard of, without realising what they were. Take butyrate, for example. Butyrate is enjoying superfood status at the moment, riding high in the health food rankings. You can buy it as a supplement to boost your brain power. It is produced by the fermentation of fibre, so gets the thumbs up from health authorities, based on that feature alone.

There are three types of saturated fatty acid: short-chain, medium-chain and long-chain.

Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) have five or fewer carbon atoms. Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) have 6-12 carbon atoms. Long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) have 13 or more carbon atoms.

Short-chain fatty acids and brain health

The main SCFAs are butyrate, acetate and propionate. Butyrate is the most researched, when it comes to neurological function. It enters the bloodstream from the gut and crosses the blood brain barrier. Once in the brain it influences neuronal function, behaviour and physiology. In the same way that it reduces inflammation in the gut, butyrate reduces inflammation in the brain.

Chronic, low-grade inflammation in the brain is a factor in the development of many neurodegenerative diseases, including dementia. It is also seen in Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and Huntington’s disease.

As well as being produced by the bacterial fermentation of fibre, SCFAS ‘are found in high concentrations in foods such as butter and other dairy products.’

The body also makes SCFAS from the fermentation of proteins by gut bacteria. The digestion of protein foods such as meat is highly efficient, but even so about 10% of these foods reach the colon where, like fibre, they are fermented by the colonic microbiota and produce SCFAs.

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