Saturated Fat Getting More and More Props

by Steven Fineberg

It appears the message that saturated fat is NOT a demon is reaching the mainstream. The November issue of Men’s Health magazine took a momentary departure from their usual nutrition mantra (low-fat, lean protein, moderate carbohydrates) and published an interesting report entitled, What if Bad Fat is Actually Good for You? The author, Nina Teicholz, examines the popular and unpopular studies on saturated fats.

Teicholz takes a strong position that study after study has failed to provide evidence that saturated fat consumption leads to heart disease. She breaks down in easy-to-understand terms that the common forms of saturated fatty acids consumed --stearic, palmitic and lauric-- are healthy and not the artery-clogging poisons the public has been brain-washed to believe. From a Weston A. Price perspective, the truth is finally being told in the mainstream. Hats off to Men's Health for publishing this controversial piece.

Pass this link on to those you know that still believe a low-fat diet will protect them from a heart attack. I am going back to devouring my chopped liver on top of buttered rye!

(Note from Carla: Mary Enig, PhD and co-author of Know Your Fats : The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils and Cholesterol, Eat Fat, Lose Fat: The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats and Nourishing Traditions, has long been writing on the failure of the lipid hypothesis (the theory that there is a direct relationship between the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet and the incidence of coronary heart disease). She talks about how the vegetable oil and food processing industries, the main beneficiaries of any research that could be used to demonize competing traditional foods, worked behind the scenes to promote further research that would support the lipid hypothesis. Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD is another researcher who has demolished the myth that cholesterol and saturated fats cause heart disease. His book, The Cholesterol Myths : Exposing the Fallacy that Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease includes a discussion of the dangers of cholesterol-lowering drugs. More on these topics later, after I finish my roasted bone marrow crostini and coconut mousse pie.)

Comments

[Karen]

I saw this article in Men's Health and it is a rather surprising development in mainstream press. May I add an additional author to the book, Nourishing Traditions...Sally Fallon.
I enjoyed a week-end workshop with Ms. Fallon and Thomas Cowan, MD in Vancouver 2 years ago. The information was extraordinary and Ms. Fallon knows her subject!
I must read their other book written together "Eat Fat, Lose Fat" again.
Best,
Karen from California

[Carla]

Karen,
Nourishing Traditions is one of my favorites. I'm constantly using it to look up nutritional information, for recipes, etc.
Carla

[Phillip Tirman MD]

It isn't saturated fat that is the enemy but what you eat it with. Anything insulinogenic will lead to fat storage and prevent fat burning. I call it the enabler theory (The Wine and Food Lover's Diet). Something not mentioned in the article but only alluded to was the fact that saturated fat doesn't go rancid like unsaturated fat does and this free radical production in unsaturated fats may be the reason why those on a diet with more unsaturated fat developed more cancers. There is a reason why saturated fat like butter has been in the human diet for eons. It's healthier than the new fangled processed fats out there with names like heart healthy. Humbug.
Phillip Tirman MD

[Razwell]

There are EXACTLY 18 clinical dietary intervention trials to date and NONE of them support the false idea that saturated fat increases CHD mortality or incidence.

The Women's Health Initiative 2006 is the most recent.