Is it now considered okay to eat saturated fat from butter and tropical oils?
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It’s no wonder so many of us are confused about healthy eating. Even the nation’s dietary experts keep changing their mind about what we should eat and what we should avoid. We asked USC School of Pharmacy Research Professor Roger Clemens to help remove some of the confusion surrounding healthy fats.
Q: What are the latest dietary guidelines regarding fat and cholesterol?
Dr. Clemens: The 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Scientific Report states that cholesterol is no longer a nutrient of concern. The available evidence shows no appreciable relationship between consumption of dietary cholesterol and serum cholesterol. This is consistent with the conclusion of the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology report.
Q: Can you explain this change in thinking over the past several decades?
Dr. Clemens: Nutritional science is dynamic. In the 1980s, the Dietary Guidelines suggested consumers avoid too much total fat and saturated fat. Over time, total fat guidelines have been upwardly adjusted with the 2010 Guidelines suggesting diets with up 35 percent of daily calories from fat. The 2015 executive summary suggests no upper limit for total fat consumption. Saturated fat guidelines have similarly evolved and now suggest including up to 10 percent in a healthy diet, and replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated and mono-unsaturated fat. This thinking may still be changing, however. Current evidence does not clearly support cardiovascular guidelines that encourage high consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids and low consumption of total saturated fats.
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Cholesterol: “Not a Nutrient of Concern”
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are updated every five years by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The first edition was released in 1980 with the 7th edition released in 2010 (Dietary Guidelines for Americans). This means the 8th edition will be released this year.
There is a Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) consisting of recognized experts in nutrition and public health. This committee reviews the latest research and provides the USDA and HHS Secretaries with evidence-based recommendations.
On February 19, 2015, the DGAC released its recommendations — the Advisory Report.
In the report, the DGAC stated cholesterol is not a nutrient of concern for over consumption.
This would mean eliminating the 2010 guideline recommending cholesterol intake be limited to 300 mg per day or less. The average American cholesterol intake is 340 mg daily.
This recommendation is consistent with new guidelines from the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology, but has still caused significant debate on the impact if dietary cholesterol guidelines are removed.
What are some concerns being debated?
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Saturated Fat: Do you need to limit your intake?
Dr. Bowden is a board-certified nutritionist and author of 14 books including The Great Cholesterol Myth co-authored with cardiologist Stephen Sinatra.
I was interested to know if Dr. Bowden supported diets unlimited in saturated fat. Dr. Bowden provided key clarification when answering…
The problem isn’t with the saturation of fat, but with its toxicity.
If you consume fat from feedlot raised animals, they have received hormones, antibodies, steroids and pesticides. All of this is stored in their fat. Fat you then consume. This is not a healthy fat and in no way recommended.
Let’s look at this from another angle to ensure you understand the point Dr. Bowden is making.
Inflammation promotes degenerative diseases — Alzheimer’s, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, etc. Inflammation is tied to the relationship between omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. Omega 6 is inflammatory. Omega 3 is anti-inflammatory. You need both in your diet. You cannot simply eliminate all omega 6 fatty acids. You need an appropriate balance between omega 3 and omega 6. The current ratio, according to published research in the World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics, Vol 100, is 16:1 for most Americans. The desired, healthy ratio is between 1:1 and 4:1.
Accordingly to Dr. Bowden, this poor balance is due to the removal of saturated fats from our diets. Saturated fat is a neutral. It’s neither inflammatory, nor anti-inflammatory….as long as it is not toxic. A very small percent of the US population consumes grass-fed beef free of toxins. If you consume the standard feedlot raised beef, then no longer restricting your intake is not wise. Yes, the saturated fat itself isn’t going to lead to heart disease, but the toxins contained in that saturated fat are a big negative for your health.
So, what are some foods containing saturated fat that Dr. Bowden considers okay to eat?
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Why do we think saturated fat causes heart disease?
I discussed heart disease in connection to saturated fat with board-certified nutrition Dr. Jonny Bowden.
Dr. Bowden is the author of 14 books including The Great Cholesterol Myth co-authored with cardiologist Stephen Sinatra. He explains that “I’m out to rehabilitate the reputation of saturated fat, a perfectly healthy fat that we collectively demonized when we wrongly believed it lead to heart disease. Recent research has shown that there’s no connection between saturated fat in the diet and the incidence of heart disease. Instead of saturated fat and cholesterol, most leading edge experts are now looking at inflammation as a prime mover in the development of heart disease.”
Today I want to cover what Dr. Bowden shared on the history of saturated fat and it’s believed connection to heart disease.
Why is there so much news lately in regards to saturated fat and its connection, or lack of connection, to heart disease? Accordingly to Dr. Bowden, the media is finally catching up with what we’ve known for 15 years. Nothing has changed. It’s just becoming more difficult to ignore the mounting evidence. It never caused heart disease.
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Fueling Your Fat Fix: Forbidden foods with saturated fat may be okay
This is a guest post from Jonny Bowden.
Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS, (aka “The Rogue Nutritionist”) is a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and health. He is a board-certified nutritionist with a master’s degree in psychology and the best-selling author of 14 books on health, healing, food and longevity, including three best-sellers, “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth”, the award-winning “Living Low Carb” and his latest book, co-written with cardiologist Stephen Sinatra and featured on the Dr. Oz Show, “The Great Cholesterol Myth”.
Nutritionist debunks some old wives’ tales so that you can enjoy your meals again
Let’s talk fat. Specifically, saturated fat. If you’ve banished red meats and egg yolks from your diet for health reasons, there’s reason to rejoice. “I think the notion that saturated fat and cholesterol are the demons in the diet is 100 percent wrong,” says Dr. Jonny Bowden PhD, CNS, a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and health. “When you look at the data, it’s very clear: Most of what we’ve been told about saturated fat and cholesterol is simply not so.”
Bowden, a board-certified nutritionist and author of 14 books including The Great Cholesterol Myth co-authored with cardiologist Stephen Sinatra, explains that, “I’m out to rehabilitate the reputation of saturated fat, a perfectly healthy fat that we collectively demonized when we wrongly believed it lead to heart disease. Recent research has shown that there’s no connection between saturated fat in the diet and the incidence of heart disease. Instead of saturated fat and cholesterol, most leading edge experts are now looking at inflammation as a prime mover in the development of heart disease.
“The irony is that the foods we were taught are good for us – breads, cereals, pasta, rice, potatoes – are the very ones that are killing us. Our bodies convert these foods to sugar almost instantly. Sugar raises insulin, which causes inflammation, which is the fundamental cause of heart disease.”
Is Social Media Causing You to Gain Weight?
The new social media site Pinterest is coming under scrutiny for wrecking diets and causing increased calorie intake. Why? All those delicious pictures of sweet desserts!
As the third most popular social media platform, Pinterest now has more than 20 million users with a majority being women.
When users “pin” their favorite recipes the recipes tend to lean towards the unhealthy high calorie choices.
Red Velvet Cake
Chicken Taco Chili
Oreo Layer Dessert
Strawberries and Cream Dessert Squares
Gnocchi, Sweet Corn, & Arugula in Cream Sauce
Pumpkin Spice Donuts
Tin Roof Ice Cream Cake
And the list goes on. . .
All sounds delicious, right? On the negative side, the recipes tend to be high in added sugars, saturated fat, and calories.
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