Leading Heart Expert Says Fats are NOT to Blame for Heart Disease
The low-fat craze of recent decades has been called into question in the last few years, as many scientists and health experts say it isn’t fats we should be concerned about at all. What’s more, it’s coming to light that saturated fats are not the villains when it comes to heart disease. Dr. James DiNicolantonio, a cardiovascular researcher based in New York, recently penned an editorial in the medical journal Open Heart saying low-fat diets do not curb heart disease or help you live longer.
“We need a public health campaign as strong as the one we had in the 70s and 80s demonizing saturated fats, to say that we got it wrong,” said Dr. DiNicolantonio in his paper.
Dietary advice still being perpetuated today is based on evidence from the 1950s, evidence DiNicolantonio says is flawed. This research, from more than 50 years ago was based on data from six countries, in a pool of research including 16 countries. The study author back then cherry-picked his findings to fit his hypothesis, according to DiNicolantonio.
“There is no conclusive proof that a low-fat diet has any positive effects on health,” he wrote. “Indeed, the literature indicates a general lack of any effect (good or bad) from a reduction in fat intake.”
The Open Heart study concludes:
“In summary, the benefits of a low-fat diet (particularly a diet replacing saturated fats with carbohydrates or Ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids) are severely challenged. Dietary guidelines should assess the totality of the evidence and strongly reconsider their recommendations for replacing saturated fats with carbohydrates or Ω-6 polyunsaturated fats.”
As Medical News Today and NaturalSociety report, DiNicolantonio isn’t alone in his beliefs that saturated fats are not harmful and refined carbohydrates and polyunsaturated fats are the real culprits. One UK cardiologist, Aseem Malhotra, made waves when he said the entire saturated fat scare is a farce. Explaining in a study published in the British Medical Journal, Malhotra says the issue isn’t as simple as we’ve been led to believe, and that the saturated fat scare has led to millions being over-medicated with dangerous statins.
Replacing saturated fats—like those found in animal products—with polyunsaturated fats could actually increase the risk of heart disease, cancer, and overall mortality.
DiNicolantonio has some very positive recommendations, suggesting people need to stop purchasing “low-fat” and “fat-free” products and instead focus on eating “real food” or foods that are unprocessed. This list includes things like organic nuts, vegetables, fruits, and grass-fed meat.
“Currently, a large amount of the data in the literature have tested varying levels of macronutrients vs. another (for example, low-carb vs. low-fat), but now we need more data on the health benefits of different foods,” said DiNicolantonio commenting that the mere parts of the food do not represent the food as a synergistic whole.
DiNicolantonio concluded:
“In summary, the benefits of a low-fat diet (particularly a diet replacing saturated fats with carbohydrates or Ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids) are severely challenged. Dietary guidelines should assess the totality of the evidence and strongly reconsider their recommendations for replacing saturated fats with carbohydrates or Ω-6 polyunsaturated fats.”
You know the more these more common sense articles come to the screen, the more I realize that you just can’t beat the old time, natural diet. Just plain simple, good wholesome food without all this crap. We have been lied to for so many years from big business trying to shove this unnatural poisonous garbage down our throats all in an effort to make them rich. Anytime any poster here tries to breed this form of agriculture please realize they are helping to support these few wealthy members of the community. Every time one of these phony human posters tries to sell you this bill of hazardous goods remember it will never in the short term or long term do any good for the economy nor the health of our nations and IT WON’T PROVIDE THE POOR NATIONS IN GAINING SELF SUFFICIENCY.
The health and prosperity of this world are at stake.
We have lost our common sense. We need to get back to a simpler way of life whereby we can start living healthy lives again. Homemade bread with normal butter and a thin spread of organic honey. An apple, some oatmeal. And a small portion of meat ( well OK no meat then). I don’t care what cut or what animal- but a SMALL piece of meat or fish. We eat way too much meat. And a bowl of blueberries for dessert. What is with all these processed foods, chips, pop- with tons of sugar. If we can cut out all these thousands of processed and artificial foods and eat simple again we can get back to a normal healthy lifestyle. AND we won’t be supporting these corporations anymore.
Next time you are at a supermarket add up all the processed food and junk food in the aisles and then check out who manufacturers this crap. Just imagine taking all these artificial foods off the shelves ( and I mean all of them, including margarine, jam, mayonnaise, cereal, etc.) and you will be staring at a severely depleted grocery store. Boycott it and help to limit your exposure to these chemicals and help to rid the world of the chemicals spread around the Earth.
How many people here (me included), admonishing the pro-GMO camp for their abnormal attempt to continue to poison the world’s inhabitants, eat a diet devoid of these chemical laden foods.
The more we practice what we preach, the more we are on our way to freeing ourselves from the shackles of our poisoned environment. We have at our disposal an army; that’s YOU, OK you and another few million other souls not fortunate enough to view these articles here, that has the power to overthrow the chemical food industry.
Get out there and EAT NATURALLY!!
Sorry if you feel I digressed a tad from the intent of this article, which of course, as usual was top notch and inspiring.