What is the best ratio of MUFA, SFA and PUFA on a ketogenic diet?
Dr. Stephen Phinney and the Virta Team
There is no precise prescription for dietary fatty acid content because there is no precise science to drive it. In general, people don't tolerate high amounts of polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) as part of a high fat diet, which is why we recommend focusing one's intake on monounsaturates and saturates. Despite high intakes of saturated fats on well-formulated ketogenic diet, their absolute content in blood lipids actually tend to go down, which indicates that they (saturated fats) are being preferentially burned.
We recommend that you:
- Use olive, canola, and high oleic safflower/sunflower
- Use butter, lard, coconut oil, cream as desired
- Avoid soybean, corn, the high poly versions of sunflower and safflower (there are some high mono versions now coming into the market), cottonseed and peanut oils.
- Get omega-3 oils from fish or supplements (fish oil or flaxseed oil)
Read more about which fats and oils are best on a ketogenic diet.
