The New Skinny on Fat

As if I needed any more justification for eating butter, Scientific American has just published an article that dispels the thinking we've been living with for decades: saturated fat is not the culprit for heart disease. Here's some of the opening paragraph:


"Now a spate of new research, including a meta-analysis of nearly two dozen studies, suggests a reason why: investigators may have picked the wrong culprit. Processed carbohydrates, which many Americans eat today in place of fat, may increase the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease more than fat does—a finding that has serious implications for new dietary guidelines expected this year."


There have been a number of food researchers and nutritionists claiming these facts for years, and they have been laughed off by the diet and nutrition industry. (Check out the Weston Price Foundation, for example) It will be interesting to see if there are any changes in the recommended healthy eating guidelines. The processed food industry has a lot of money for lobbyists, and the sugar industry and corn refiners just may band together to promote their food. Given that low fat processed foods rely on sugar and sweeteners to make them edible, these companies will do anything in their power to create doubt in these findings. To read the whole article click here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carbs-against-cardio


Some of the key points they discovered are so opposite to our mainstream thinking on health, I wonder if people will accept this data:


- ...[The idea that] fat is bad for the heart because it increases total cholesterol levels...is “based in large measure on extrapolations, which are not supported by the data” 
- ...findings do not merely suggest that saturated fats are not so bad; they indicate that carbohydrates could be worse. 
- If you reduce saturated fat and replace it with high glycemic-index carbohydrates, you may not only not get benefits—you might actually produce harm.


It's a no-brainer then, that in North America obesity has doubled, diabetes has tripled, and heart disease is still the number one killer - despite the attention and focus on reducing fats, particularly, saturated fat, in our diets. All the crazy products we invented to battle our fears, like margarine, didn't help this either - trans fats?


The article does acknowledge that no one should gorge on saturated fats, but cutting them out and replacing them with questionable substitutes is not going make us any healthier. For me, this just speaks to eating real, whole food. Mother Nature has it figured out, even if the scientists aren't sure.



Comments

  1. I agree sweetheart! That is why "I likes my butter!"

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  2. Wonderful informative post. Thank you for sharing. Cheers!

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  3. Haaah! LOVED this post Carrie! *heehee* I feel so vindicated - I haven't had margarine in my fridge for at least 5 years and I use butter on my bread and in all my baking (unless I'm using lard *gasp*) though in much smaller amounts than traditional recipes call for. I'm with Libbyloulou - bring it on Baby!! Thank you Carrie, and please keep your wonderful posts coming :)

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  4. Hey Carrie - Just wanted to let you know that I got a bag of awards for you at my blog. No worries about passing them along. All you gotta do is accept, and I hope you will accept them :) Look forward too seeing you at my place..

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