Over the last two episodes we have revealed the disastrous history of how we were taught to believe that saturated fats are bad for us. Many forces came together to concoct and perpetuate the false health narrative that has wreaked havoc on the health of our country. In 1985 Dr. George Mann of Vanderbilt, former associate director of the Framingham Heart Study, wrote, “A generation of citizens have grown up since the diet/heart disease hypothesis was launched as official dogma. They have been misled by the greatest scientific deception in our times: that consumption of animal fat causes heart disease.” That’s a very strong statement and an accurate one given the science that backs him up on that position.

For YEARS many doctors and scientists have carried out quality research to counter the misinformation that has become the standard for medical recommendations to prevent heart disease and other chronic diseases. These doctors have been disregarded or even attacked by the heart-health establishment.

Now I want to share with you some recent research that may begin to finally set the record straight. In August 2020 the Journals of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) published a State-of-the-Art Review entitled “Saturated Fats and Health: A Reassessment and Proposal for Food-Based Recommendations” (JACC Vol 76 No 7), that examines the evidence behind dietary recommendations against saturated fats. The report was written by scientists with no ties to industry or pharmaceutical companies. “Just the facts, ma'am,” as Joe Friday would say.

This review of decades of studies of the diet/heart health connection is a complete rejection of the decree against eating saturated fats, and I urge all of you to share it with your medical doctor. You can find a link to the article on our website yourhealthisnobigthing.net. The review is a detailed research paper that should shift medical thinking and help doctors help their patients to improve their health. Here are two highlights of the brand new findings of this report which may help you make substantive changes in your food choices. 

• Several foods relatively rich in saturated fatty acids, such as whole-fat dairy, unprocessed meat, and dark chocolate are NOT associated with increased cardiovascular disease or diabetes risk. In fact, dietary saturated fatty acids have protective effects against stroke and Type 2 diabetes.

• There is no solid evidence that the current population-wide arbitrary upper limits on saturated fat consumption in the United States will prevent cardiovascular disease or reduce mortality.

Whoa, . . . did you get that? The evidence compiled from multiple studies proves once and for all that whole-fat dairy, unprocessed meats, and dark chocolate do not increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. That’s really big news! The report goes on to suggest that new dietary recommendations should translate these findings into understandable, consistent, and strong recommendations for a healthy diet. In short, stop advising the public to get less than 10% of their calories from saturated fats!! Instead, eat all the saturated fats you want!! 

Wow! That is an astounding reversal of judgment against saturated fats, with lots of good science to back it up. The report also points out that, in reducing our saturated-fat intake based on decades of bad advice, we have replaced healthy foods with starches and sugar. This replacement of saturated fats with carbohydrates, processed grains, and sugars is not associated with lower rates of heart disease, but instead with increased disease and death. WOW! Final confirmation that eating refined and sugary foods is making us sick, not saturated fats!!

Most important of all, the JACC report focused on the four major studies from the ‘60s and ‘70s on which we base our conviction that saturated fats are bad. The studies were supposed to be comparing a diet high in polyunsaturated fats to one high in saturated fats. However, on close examination, the studies were in fact comparing a diet of polyunsaturated fats to a diet of saturated fats that inadvertently contained trans fats (which you now know are inflammatory and contribute to heart disease). It appears that the trans fats in the saturated fat diet were really the culprit causing the heart disease! That’s another big WOW!  

You mean to tell me that the evidence demonizing saturated fats was based on faulty evidence all along? Yes, I’m sorry to say that flawed evidence has marked the path to ruined health that America is on. But to be fair this is the science we thought we knew back 50 and 60 years ago. Maya Angelou’s famous quote may help us here: “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” Now is the time for us to do better by adding saturated fats back into our diet each and every day.

If that is not enough shocking news already, the JACC report on saturated fats and health exposes information about processed oils that is vital for you to know. When oils from corn, soy, cotton, and other seeds are processed using high heat and trace metals, they end up containing “process contaminants''. Some of the contaminants generated while making manufactured oils have been shown to cause cancer in rats. Oops, that doesn’t sound healthy!

So be careful with the type of oils you choose for your cooking. Small amounts of harmful ingredients eaten every day DO affect your health. Start reading those labels to check that you are not using processed vegetable oils (especially avoid anything containing the word “hydrogenated”) and look for healthier options. Consider cooking with olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, ghee, which is clarified butter, and even lard!

The 2020 JACC State-of-the-Art Review is a comprehensive evaluation of all the research studies done on saturated fats and health. Its final conclusion argues for new and radically different dietary recommendations. Unfortunately, conventional medicine can still be expected to cling to such outdated but entrenched health edicts as, Avoid eggs and Eat a low-fat diet. What is required next is a public health campaign to reinstate “healthy fats” as a valuable component of good nutrition. 

As a result of disproven and dangerous dietary recommendations, our country has become one of the unhealthiest in the world. In 2020 four out of five adults in the United States were overweight, with almost half of American adults categorized as obese, that’s “really overweight”. 

One in five children in America are now obese from eating low-fat, processed foods and drinking non-fat chocolate milk in school. Let’s look again at this chart showing when the low fat diet was introduced into our eating world.