Hypolipidic Diet: Dietary Principles and Diet Example

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Premise

The following indications are for informational purposes EXCLUSIVELY and are not intended to replace the opinion of professionals such as a doctor, nutritionist or dietician, whose intervention is necessary for the prescription and composition of PERSONALIZED food therapies.

Hypolipidic Diet or Less Fat?

The low-fat diet is a diet that contains less fat than normal. Any low-fat diet predisposes to nutritional deficiency of essential molecules and requires a supplementary supplement.
The nutritional scheme that corrects excess fat by restoring a correct balance is instead called a "balanced diet". This provides for a lipid breakdown of 25-30% of the total calories consumed with food. This type of diet could ONLY be considered "hypolipidic" when compared to an unbalanced nutritional regimen due to excess fat (35-40% or more).

Are Fats Important?

Dietary lipids are mainly made up of energy molecules called fatty acids. Only a small part is made up of steroid compounds (cholesterol and phytosterols), vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K) etc.
Some polyunsaturated fatty acids are called "essential" because they must be introduced with the diet. These are the omega 3 and omega 6 groups.
The functions of lipids and liposoluble molecules are many, which is why they must NOT be removed from the diet or be deficient.

Applications

Low-fat diets concern:

• Prevention of biliary lithiasis
• Compensation for cholecystectomy (removal of the gallbladder)
• Treatment of hypercholesterolemia.

In reality, even for these food therapies the portion of fats is around the norm: 25% for adults and 30% for growing subjects.
Only in the most severe cases of congenital biliary insufficiency, called biliary atresia, is it sometimes necessary to further reduce lipids. Keep in mind that, like excess, a lack of fat in the diet can also be a risk factor for the onset of gallstones.
Certain metabolic pathologies (hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, hypertension, complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus, etc.) are beneficial in the increase of fats rather than in the reduction; obviously, only the fraction of "good lipids" is increased.
In the absence of gallbladder or due to biliary insufficiency, digestion can remain so compromised that it requires a dietary supplement of fat-soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids (while reaching the normal level of lipids).

Features

The aforementioned conditions / pathologies require particular care in the choice of foods, the type of condiments and portions; on the other hand, lipid reduction is almost never necessary. The requirements are:

• Prevalence of unsaturated over saturated or hydrogenated fatty acids (ratio 2: 1). The unsaturated ones are typical of good quality oils, while the saturated ones are part of animal fat, dairy products, bifractionated oils and margarines.
• Lowest possible concentration of trans fatty acids, typical of hydrogenated products.
• Satisfactory doses of essential fatty acids: omega 3 and omega 6 must make up 2,5% of total calories (0,5% omega-3 and 2,0% omega-6). Omega 3 are typical of fishery products, algae and some oil seeds (and related oils); omega 6 are more characteristic of oil seeds and their oils.
• Satisfactory amounts of vitamin A (liver and red-colored vegetables), vitamin D (egg yolk and peach products), vitamin E (fruits and oil seeds or their oils) and vitamin K (it is mainly produced by the intestinal flora but yes also found in vegetables).
• The nutritional intake of cholesterol must not exceed 200mg / day (100mg / day less than normal).
• Rich in phytosterols and antioxidants: these are hypocholesterolemics and antioxidants. They are introduced naturally with the ordinary consumption of legumes, fruits and vegetables.

Example

The following example is a proper low-fat diet. We have already said that it is not convenient to reduce this percentage; however, certain "anomalous" situations that require a reduction in fat below 25% are not to be excluded. The post-cholecystectomy diet of a person particularly affected by biliary insufficiency could fall into this category.

* To compensate for the reduction in lipids, it was necessary to slightly increase the protein and carbohydrate intake.

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