Saturated fat may lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, not be the culprit of the No. 1 killer in the U.S., according to a study published in the British Medical Journal.
Saturated fats have been shown to increase heart disease, lower sperm count and decrease cognition in women, but according to interventional cardiology specialist from Croydon University Hospital in London, Aseem Malhotra, scientific evidence shows that this advice—removing saturated fat to lower cardiovascular disease—"paradoxically, increased our cardiovascular risk."
"Furthermore, the government's obsession with levels of total cholesterol, which has led to the overmedication of millions of people with statins, has diverted our attention from the more egregious risk factor of atherogenic dyslipidaemia."
Saturated fat, in recent studies, has been shown to be protective. In an early obesity experiment, published in the Lancet in 1956, groups were compared by what their diets consist of—90% fat versus 90% protein versus 90% carbohydrate. The results showed that the greatest weight loss occurred in the fat-consuming group. A recent JAMA study has shown that a "low fat" diet resulted in the greatest decrease in energy expenditure, an unhealthy lipid pattern, and increased insulin resistance, in comparison with a low carbohydrate and low glycaemic index diet, Malhorta said.
In the U.S., the percentage of calories consumed from fat has declined from 40% to 30% in the last 30 years, but obesity has continued to increase. One reason, Malhotra says, is that the food industry compensated by replacing saturated fat with added sugar. When fat is taken out, it has to be replaced with something to make it taste good, and that something has been sugar.
"The scientific evidence is mounting that sugar is a possible independent risk factor for the metabolic syndrome," he said.
Malhotra writes that a Mediterranean diet after a heart attack is almost three times as powerful in reducing mortality as taking a statin.
"Furthermore, the government's obsession with levels of total cholesterol, which has led to the overmedication of millions of people with statins, has diverted our attention from the more egregious risk factor of atherogenic dyslipidaemia."
Saturated fat, in recent studies, has been shown to be protective. In an early obesity experiment, published in the Lancet in 1956, groups were compared by what their diets consist of—90% fat versus 90% protein versus 90% carbohydrate. The results showed that the greatest weight loss occurred in the fat-consuming group. A recent JAMA study has shown that a "low fat" diet resulted in the greatest decrease in energy expenditure, an unhealthy lipid pattern, and increased insulin resistance, in comparison with a low carbohydrate and low glycaemic index diet, Malhorta said.
In the U.S., the percentage of calories consumed from fat has declined from 40% to 30% in the last 30 years, but obesity has continued to increase. One reason, Malhotra says, is that the food industry compensated by replacing saturated fat with added sugar. When fat is taken out, it has to be replaced with something to make it taste good, and that something has been sugar.
"The scientific evidence is mounting that sugar is a possible independent risk factor for the metabolic syndrome," he said.
Malhotra writes that a Mediterranean diet after a heart attack is almost three times as powerful in reducing mortality as taking a statin.
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