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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   36310 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 28, 2022

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In the Covid vaccine-skeptical community, the lay hypothesis of the mechanism was much more plain: the spike protein itself somehow acts like transfats, and it’s the one thing shared by both the mRNA vaccines and the SARS-CoV-2 virus. And guess what? “One Google search” (as per the recent Pfizer meme) turned up this paper from the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 602, 15 November 2021, received in March 2021:

… SARS-CoV-2 spike protein removes lipids from model membranes and interferes with the capacity of high density lipoprotein to exchange lipids …

Here's an illustration of the abstract of that paper.

And cardiac science has recently shown how absolutely vital saturated fats are for heart health:

Dietary lipids are important regulators of cardiac function through their role in membrane phospholipids, as signaling molecules and ligands for nuclear receptors, and as the predominant oxidative substrate for cardiac mitochondria.

This second paper is absolutely fascinating, even for a Star Trek technobabbler like me with no biology courses since high school. I found this section particularly interesting:

It has become increasing clear that packaging of triglyceride into intracardiomyocyte lipid droplets plays an important role in cardiac fatty acid metabolism, and very likely prevents the toxic effects of lipid accumulation in the heart.

So, if the spike protein removes good fats from heart membranes, we indeed have a candidate mechanism for heart failure by both the virus and the vax.

And cardiac science has recently shown how absolutely vital saturated fats are for heart health

Has it? Their conclusion says:

In summary, manipulation of dietary fat intake shows promise in the prevention and treatment of [heart failure]. Clinical studies generally support high intake of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids from marine sources to prevent and treat HF. Additional clinical and animals studies are needed to determine the optimal diet in terms of the relative and absolute intake of saturated, monounsaturated, and n-3 and n-6 PUFA for this vulnerable patient population.

In other words: omega-3 fats are good (which everyone knows already) and further research is needed for the others. Nothing of substance.

Where did you find them saying that saturated fats are "absolutely vital" for heart health? The only claim I could find that comes even close is:

We recently used a similar hamster model to compare the effects of two high fat diets (45% of energy from fat): one high n-3 PUFA and n-6 PUFA, and the other high in saturated and monounsaturated fat. There was only a modest ~10% increase in body mass with the two high fat diets, but surprisingly consumption of the high saturated and monounsaturated fat diet prolonged life compared to either the standard low fat diet or the high n-3PUFA + n-6PUFA diet (Figure 2). We found improved survival in cardiomyopathic hamsters fed the high saturated and monounsaturated fat diet compared to either a standard low fat diet (12% fat), or a high fat diet enriched with n-3PUFA and n-6PUFA7. Again, as with the SHHF rat, the relevance of this model to most cases of human HF is limited and one should use caution in extrapolating to patients.

Admittedly, I've only skimmed the article.

Edit: I want to point out that the paper itself is about high-fat, low-carb diets, not about specific types of fat.

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