Dr Budwig & Understanding About Unsaturated Fats

In her book, “Flax Oil As A True Aid Against Arthritis, Heart Infarction, Cancer And Other Diseases”, Dr Johanna Budwig wrote with regard to cancer:

“the only substance which characterised the cancerous cells, as opposed to healthy ones, was isolated fat; the formation of fat in the cell nucleus, cell body and cytoplasm. It was the single distinguishing feature of cancerous cells in contrast to healthy ones”.

Regarding heart infarction, she wrote:

“Anatomically speaking, heart infarction observation studies reveal nothing abnormal in the picture except for solid fat, which encircles the normally lean heart muscle, confining and disturbing the heart’s action”.

Referencing rheumatism, she wrote:

“In rheumatic disease, the only factor which distinguishes the diseased muscles from healthy ones is isolated fat – a clear “No!” to this substance”.

That was all written decades ago, so it is possible that things have changed since then, I don’t know. However, as much as these diseases may be very broad subjects with many contributing factors (especially cancer), isolated fat in the cells, muscles and heart; self evidently can’t be a good thing.

So why is fat found in these places? Budwig writes:

“When living tissue rejects some fats, the body isolates them – and this is the crux – and deposits them in places where fats are not normally found”.

Basically, we are consuming fats that the body cannot process so they are being put into deep storage by the body. Does that mean that we should stop eating fats?

No, definitely not. The body needs fats. Budwig say that what we need (especially in the West) is more highly unsaturated fats. The technicalities of what makes unsaturated fats different to saturated fats is beyond the scope of this posting and may be covered later. However, the main thing about unsaturated fats is that they generate electrons inside the body, which are quickly conducted off the body causing a recharging effect of living tissue, especially nerves and the brain.

So why is that we need fats, yet the body rejects and isolates some fats? It is mainly the industrial process by which they are produced which damages the fats before we consume them. Oxygen stabilise the unsaturated fats to improve shelf life and make them easier to spread, but destroys their ability to release the electrons that cause the recharging effect inside us. Even if we take an organic unsaturated fat like flaxseed (which is at the centre of Dr Budwig protocol) and cook with it, the high temperatures will oxygenate in and render it harmful to our bodies.

To make the most of flaxseed oil (or any other oil containing unsaturated fats), we need to know that they have been not been overly processed and we mustn’t cook with them. We must find other ways to consume them, which I have covered in earlier postings.

So what oils can you cook with? One of the best is coconut oil, because it is already saturated and therefore does not oxygenate at high temperatures. It is also rich in nutrients so is healthy in its own right.