We all know that saturated fat will clog up your arteries and cause heart disease, don't we?
Why do we know this? For decades, the government and "so-called" health experts have been telling us, so it must be right, right?
WRONG!
Origins
In 1953 the physiologist, Dr. Ancel Keys did an international study in America, Canada, Australia, England, Italy and Japan. He found that the Americans ate the most fat and did the most dying and the Japanese ate the least fat and died a lot less. From there he published his "diet-heart hypothesis". Then he did interviews and chat shows all over the world and made a tidy sum out of it.
Proof
However, it was just a hypothesis and despite 40 years of scientific study since, no-one has managed to prove his hypothesis. In fact, the largest investigation of all was a £358 million study of 20,000 American women which showed that cutting back dietary fat had no impact on reducing stroke and heart-disease risks.
Conclusion
If you live a healthy lifestyle, aren't overweight, don't smoke and you take regular exercise, then the composition of your diet may matter much less than previously supposed.
No-one is saying that saturated fats are good for you, just that they might not actually be bad for you.
References
There's a lot more information about this in the full article in the March Men's Health magazine.
Of course, but the article was just what prompted me to look into it and find that it was quite correct. Keys' research and hypothesis were deeply flawed and to me, it looks like his work was at least partly motivated by the search for fame and fortune. The only research results I can find with what appears to be genuine methods and results all appear to suggest that Keys was wrong.
This study of 80,000 women showed that replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fats is more effective in preventing coronary heart disease in women than reducing overall fat intake.
The implication then is that saturated fats are bad for you.
Let your mind go and your body will follow. – Steve Martin, LA Story
Without disputing the veracity of the rest of your post, it's too big a jump from saying that fat may not be as bad for you as we've been led to believe, to saying 'the composition of your diet may matter much less than previously supposed'. Personally, I believe that it's been made very clear that our diet has a huge effect on our health.
Mens Health magazine announces bacon sarnies and burgers are OK to eat!
Next month: beans don't cause farting and beer sobers you up!!
Then come back when you have .
Good point, my second quote/observation was far too wide-ranging and missing it's context.
If you can't be bothered reading the rest of the thread, never mind looking into the subject, why not try to kill it with pointless, flippant remarks? Oh yes, you just did. :WATT:
There is a link
Questions For Jimmy The Bartender® - Men's Health
Here's the full article.
I'm personally more inclined to believe research articles from peer-reviewed medical journals, than "Men's Health" magazine.
Let your mind go and your body will follow. – Steve Martin, LA Story
Gav and his article are quite correct. It's been a while since I saw that study, but I think Dr. Keys collected data from 21 countries. Only the 6 noted above demonstrated the correlation he was looking for, and so those were the only ones published.
The magazine isn't important – I'm more likely to believe a research paper in a peer reviewed journal than any magazine, or indeed any individual – unless they can actually show me a peer-reviewed, similarly detailed study which disagrees with the one that I found.
It's worth making it's conclusions clear again – it agreed with your "proof" that cutting down fat intake will not reduce your chances of heart disease, etc. But it found that replacing saturated fat for what we understand to be "healthier" unsaturated fats will do.Conclusions Our findings suggest that replacing saturated and trans unsaturated fats with unhydrogenated monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats is more effective in preventing coronary heart disease in women than reducing overall fat intake.
I've seen no proof at all for these conclusions.Originally Posted by Gav
Let your mind go and your body will follow. – Steve Martin, LA Story
In the past (and possibly still) the poor ate a lot of grease because it keeps your energy levels up and keeps you warm in unheated homes.
Now the government run NHS is attacking the poor by telling them that their diet is unhealthy.
If you are on a strict budget and have mouths to feed, are you going to buy a punnet of strawberries for £2.99 or a jumbo size bag of frozen chips for the same price?
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