About this episode

Dr. Stephanie Venn-Watson discusses the potential essential fatty acid C15:0 and its implications for healthy aging and metabolic health.

For decades, we've been told to avoid saturated fat. But what if one specific saturated fat is actually essential for healthy aging? In this episode of the ReThink Health Podcast, Dr. Stephanie Venn-Watson and I discuss a groundbreaking discovery that could completely reshape how we think about fat, aging, and metabolic health. While studying aging Navy dolphins, Dr. Venn-Watson and her team uncovered something unexpected… The healthiest, longest-living dolphins consistently had higher levels of a little-known fatty acid called C15:0 (pentadecanoic acid). And researchers now believe C15 may qualify as the first newly discovered essential fatty acid in over 90 years since omega-3s were identified. In this fascinating conversation, Dr. Venn-Watson explains how decades of low-fat dietary recommendations may have unintentionally lowered our intake of this critical nutrient. Plus, we cover what that could mean for rising rates of insulin resistance, fatty liver disease, accelerated aging, and metabolic dysfunction. You'll learn: What C15 actually is and why scientists are calling it a potential essential fatty acid How dolphin research unexpectedly unlocked new insights into human…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Autumn Smith

Guest: Dr. Stephanie Venn-Watson

Topics covered

• saturated fat
• healthy aging
• metabolic health
• dolphin research
• essential fatty acids
• insulin resistance
• cardiovascular disease

Keywords

• saturated fat
• C15:0
• pentadecanoic acid
• healthy aging
• metabolic dysfunction
• insulin resistance
• fatty liver disease
• type 2 diabetes
• cardiovascular disease

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Navy, omega-3s

Products: C15:0, pentadecanoic acid

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