Dr. Mehmet Oz
The You Docs are at it again. After results of a huge meta-analysis were published in March, Drs. Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen acknowledged in their column that new information showed saturated fat may not be so bad, after all. Their pause didn’t last long. Soon afterward, they resumed their condemnation of this good fat.
They’re back to quoting the American Heart Association, which apparently has totally ignored the enormously important findings, which duplicated on a
larger scale another meta-analysis from February 2010. The one reported on this year involved 650,000 people in 18 states and was conducted by several prestigious medical authorities and bodies.
Analysis criticized
After its release, certain members of the mainstream medical community condemned it as flawed, but the leader of the research group did not back down on the basic conclusions of the analysis. Its detractors never commented on the identical findings of the 2010 analysis, which was almost totally ignored by the media and dismissed by a retired member of the American Heart Association, who said simply that it shouldn’t be taken too seriously, which it wasn’t.
Ancel Keys
Nor did the fault-finders pay any heed to the severely tainted origin of the notion that saturated fat was unhealthy almost six decades ago. It was propagated by a research physician named Ancel Keys, who studied 22 nations whose populations consumed heavy amounts of saturated fat to prove his theory that it caused heart and heart-related problems. Fifteen of the populations showed no such effects, so he discarded those results and proclaimed that the seven which did have higher cardio ailments proved his theory correct. Even in those seven populations, however, he did not take into account variables such as high numbers of smokers and consumers of sugar.
Ham-handedness is key
Keys was combative, and vigorously countered other scientists who disputed his findings as he prevailed on the media to publicize his assertions. His worthless science became the accepted science, and, because saturated fat is high in cholesterol, contributed to its condemnation and the development of dangerous statin drugs to lower it.
Author Nina Teicholz
The leading alternative physicians, who venture forth independently of mainstream medicine to investigate natural treatments for maladies, have said for decades that saturated fat is not harmful, and is in fact highly beneficial to human health. Simultaneously with the report on the latest meta-analysis was the publication of a book by investigative journalist Nina Teicholz titled The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet. She researched the subject of animal fats for 10 years.
Oz no wizard
Yet Dr. Oz, whose TV program and newspaper column have made him a household word, still pushes the palaver that saturated fat is harmful. Recently, The You Docs column quoted the American Heart Association as saying a 2,000-calories-per-day diet should include just 11 to 13 grams of saturated fat. He faults MacDonald’s for having 20 grams of saturated fat in a Big Mac, but says nothing about the real problems: the fat-causing bun, meat from cattle fattened through unhealthy methods, and processed taste enhancers (ketchup, mayo, etc.). Again, Olive Garden’s dish of lasagna, chicken Parmesan and fettuccine Alfredo is assailed not just because of its high calorie count but for its 33 grams of saturated fat, while items low in the fat are lauded.
Fat foes refuted
Nutritionist Shaun Hadsall
Certified nutritionist Shaun Hadsall, an author who is prominently featured on national television for his weight-loss programs, says the biggest lie in mainstream nutrition is: “Saturated fats are dangerous and cause heart attacks. The truth is: Saturated fat in NOT unhealthy or fattening. And saturated fat does NOT cause heart disease … .”
Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades
Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades, bariatric physicians and authors of the best-seller Protein Power, declare that they put their obese patients on a diet of red meat, chicken with the skin, butter, cream, whole milk, and other foods high in saturated fat. The obvious reason is that the patients lose weight.
The Danish research physician/author Uffe Ravnskov has authored several books debunking the myth that saturated fat is bad for health, and Mary Enig, Ph.D., the noted lipid (fats) biochemist has for decades preached the salutary effects of animal fats.
Mary Enig, Ph.D.
These experts and others of their ilk are the ones who should be getting the most attention from the media, but it’s the official, mainstream medical organizations that prevail. Take courage and investigate the opposing claims for yourself. Your health depends on it.
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