The Heart Of The Matter Part 1 (Video And Transcript) - The Myth Of Saturated Fat?

[Ishna]

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3876219.htm

Very interesting video (with transcription) about the supposed science behind saturated fat, cholesterol, heart disease and the western diet post WWII.

It's another wake-up call for my own diet. I tend towards vegan choices, including non-dairy margarine, vegetable oils (usually olive oil but I use Canola when cooking at higher temperatures), rice milk (has vegetable oil in it) which I know would need to change. Vegan choices mean no fish, so I really should be increasing my intake of Omega 3. Or start eating fish again. I'm going to have to think about that.

But the really big kicker for me, will be reducing the amount of sugar in my diet. I practically live on chocolate (which isn't very vegan of me LOL). Nary a day goes by when I don't consume some form of it - hot drinking chocolate, M&Ms, chocoalte bar... I need to start a personal revolution, and soon!

What's the state of your own diet, and what changes can you think of making in it?

This is not a place to debate meat in relation to Sikhi please. Please search for the 'Fools who wrangle over flesh' thread for that.

Thanks

 

[spnadmin]

This is food voodoo Ishna ji. Ask yourself who is making money from this information and doesn't want its supply of greenbacks reducec.

 

[spnadmin]

Another point of view. One reason why this article is convincing to me is that it is say8ng that heart disease results from multiple factors. Simply removing saturated fat may have little to no impact for some people. The Mediterranean diet that is advised is notable because it is balanced.

Genes - your family's predisposition to high cholesterol is also a villain.

Stress - Eskimos eat a diet that is saturated with saturated fat. Low cholesterol until the stress of modern living and the lifestyle of developed countries became their new norm.

Saturated fat heart disease 'myth'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24625808

Dr Assem Malhotra explains why some saturated fats may not be so bad after all


The risk from saturated fat in foods such as butter, cakes and fatty meat is being overstated and demonised, according to a cardiologist.

Dr Aseem Malhotra said there was too much focus on the fat with other factors such as sugar often overlooked.

It is time to "bust the myth of the role of saturated fat in heart disease", he writes in an opinion piece in the British Medical Journal.

But the British Heart Foundation said there was conflicting evidence.

It added reducing cholesterol through drugs or other means does lower heart risk.

Studies on the link between diet and disease have led to dietary advice and guidelines on how much saturated fat, particularly cholesterol, it is healthy to eat.

Millions of people in the UK have been prescribed statins to reduce cholesterol levels.

Dr Malhotra, a cardiology registrar at Croydon University Hospital, London, says the "mantra that saturated fat must be removed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease has dominated dietary advice and guidelines for almost four decades".

• Saturated fat is the kind of fat found in butter and lard, pies, cakes and biscuits, fatty cuts of meat, sausages and bacon, and cheese and cream
  
• Eating a diet that is high in saturated fat can raise the level of cholesterol in the blood, which increases the risk of heart disease, according to NHS Choices.
  
• Most of us eat too much saturated fat - about 20% more than the recommended maximum amount.
  
• The average man should eat no more than 30g of saturated fat a day.
  
• The average woman should eat no more than 20g of saturated fat a day.

He says saturated fat has been "demonised" and any link with heart disease is not fully supported by scientific evidence.

The food industry has compensated for lowering saturated fat levels in food by replacing it with sugar, he says, which also contributes to heart disease.

Adopting a Mediterranean diet - olive oil, nuts, oily fish, plenty of fruit and vegetables and a moderate amount of red wine - after a heart attack is almost three times as powerful in reducing mortality as taking a statin, writes Dr Malhotra.

However, Prof Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, says studies on the link between diet and disease frequently produce conflicting results.

Unlike drug trials, it is difficult to carry out a controlled, randomised study, he says.

"However, people with highest cholesterol levels are at highest risk of a heart attack and it's also clear that lowering cholesterol, by whatever means, lowers risk."

Cholesterol levels can be influenced by many factors including diet, exercise and drugs, in particular statins, he adds.

"There is clear evidence that patients who have had a heart attack, or who are at high risk of having one, can benefit from taking a statin.

"But this needs to be combined with other essential measures, such as eating a balanced diet, not smoking and taking regular exercise."

Statins are a group of medicines that can help lower rates of cholesterol in the blood.

Cholesterol can also be reduced by eating a healthy, balanced diet, maintaining a healthy weight and doing regular physical activity.

 

[Ishna]

Nobody knows what the go is! A little bit of everything and not to much of anything seems to be the safest approach!

 

[spnadmin]

ishna ji

Everything in moderation seems to be harder than anything else for most of us.

Another point on the food supplement matter. The American Cancer Society released about a year ago a meta-analysis of the ability of foods and food supplements to fight cancer. There were many findings that blew me away; yet I should have realized how vested the food supplement industry is in keeping its marketplace. For example, omega oils are now suspected of increasing the risk of lung cancer in ex-smokers. Yet omegas are promoted as one of the mainstays of cancer prevention and health. There is no evidence from legitimate scientific studies that omegas prevent cancer. There is a lot of food voodoo out there.