Seed confusion

[Midgie]

I always thought that seeds were good for you in that they were high in unsaturated fat and fibre.
The packet I bought today has ‘high SATURATED fat’ in the red traffic light. So really confused as everything I’ve read seems to suggest health benefits. (Asda three seed mix, sunflower, pumpkin and golden linseed)

 

[Eddy Edson]

I always thought that seeds were good for you in that they were high in unsaturated fat and fibre.
The packet I bought today has ‘high SATURATED fat’ in the red traffic light. So really confused as everything I’ve read seems to suggest health benefits. (Asda three seed mix, sunflower, pumpkin and golden linseed)

Anything with fats will have some saturated fat. For this product, 1.6g out of 12g total fats, per 25g serve.

I think the rating is working off a rec daily intake of no more than 20g/day of satfats. So one serve delivers 8% of this rec daily intake, and that gets marked red because it's more than 5%.

But there's no problem with including this in yr daily eating so long as your total satfats don't go over the limit. The red flag is just to alert you that you will go over the limit if you eat too much of this stuff, combined with whatever else you're eating, and that it may be easy to do that if you're not a bit careful.

Really an illustration of why health ratings for individual food products are of limited use - obviously what's important is the total diet.

As another example, an avocado has about 3g of satfats, about double the amount in a serve of this seed mix. Few apart from total low-fat zealots would claim that avocados are "unhealthy", but presumably they would also be red-flagged under this system.

 

[Drummer]

I always thought that seeds were good for you in that they were high in unsaturated fat and fibre.
The packet I bought today has ‘high SATURATED fat’ in the red traffic light. So really confused as everything I’ve read seems to suggest health benefits. (Asda three seed mix, sunflower, pumpkin and golden linseed)

The traffic light system is crazy - protein and fats are essential - saturated fats are converted into essential hormones and other substances, they are used in our brain and central nervous system.

 

[Eddy Edson]

The traffic light system is crazy - protein and fats are essential - saturated fats are converted into essential hormones and other substances, they are used in our brain and central nervous system.

Satfats are completely non-essential. There are essential fatty acids - omega-3 and omega-6 - which you need to get in tiny quantities from yr diet, but these are polyunsaturated.

 

[Midgie]

Anything with fats will have some saturated fat. For this product, 1.6g out of 12g total fats, per 25g serve.

I think the rating is working off a rec daily intake of no more than 20g/day of satfats. So one serve delivers 8% of this rec daily intake, and that gets marked red because it's more than 5%.

But there's no problem with including this in yr daily eating so long as your total satfats don't go over the limit. The red flag is just to alert you that you will go over the limit if you eat too much of this stuff, combined with whatever else you're eating, and that it may be easy to do that if you're not a bit careful.

Really an illustration of why health ratings for individual food products are of limited use - obviously what's important is the total diet.

As another example, an avocado has about 3g of satfats, about double the amount in a serve of this seed mix. Few apart from total low-fat zealots would claim that avocados are "unhealthy", but presumably they would also be red-flagged under this system.

Thanks, very helpful.

 

[harbottle]

You have to look at the whole contents of the food. Seeds and nuts contain saturated fat but also other fats and nutrients that are healthy, and I've read research (I can't recall exact details) that showed eating food with poly fats sees a quicker post-prandial fall in cholesterol after a rise. Best not to go mad on them, as they are dense energy and will make you fat! Although people who tend to eat nuts/seeds generally have a better overall diet as well. 🙂

 

[Robin]

The other thing to remember is that the traffic light system was worked out on the 'per 100g' scale, disregarding the fact that some foods you’d just never eat that much at one sitting.(well, I wouldn’t eat 100g of seeds at one sitting in case I turned into a budgie).

 

[Midgie]

I feel really thick! I thought that saturated fat only came from animal products. Certainly learning a lot since diagnosis.

 

[Eddy Edson]

I feel really thick! I thought that saturated fat only came from animal products. Certainly learning a lot since diagnosis.

I was completely clueless about any of this before DX.

There's always a mix, but animal products tend to be higher in satfats, plants higher in unsaturated. (But palm oil and coconut are exceptions: very high proportion of saturated.)

 

[nonethewiser]

Go easy on those seeds unless your constipated, once over did them & could shite thru eye of a needle at 50 paces.

 

[Midgie]

Go easy on those seeds unless your constipated, once over did them & could shite thru eye of a needle at 50 paces.

Oh I wish *runs to scoff the whole bag

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I think i read somewhere that everything that has ‘fat’ in it has a mixture of saturated, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated. It’s just that the proportions can vary significantly.

 

[Sharron1]

I feel really thick! I thought that saturated fat only came from animal products. Certainly learning a lot since diagnosis.

You are not alone. Saturated fats can be found in loads of stuff, so I just keep an eye on how much i eat and try to maintain an amount approx 12 grams