Cutting back on fatty foods might be bad for you - mea culpa

cholesterol
meat
who
saturated-fat
#1

An article in the NY Post has that ^^ intriguing headline and they link to the actual study, which is a recommendation to the World Health Organization that they stop telling us not to eat saturated fats. Granted, they’re still in the world of epidemiology, but at least they’re pointing out the flaws in previous recommendations based on the same thing.

The article itself gives us a giant picture of burgers, fries and pizza because… well fat I guess. Then they go on to mention the benefits of tofu and yogurt while slamming meat (agenda much?).

The linked BMJ study - which isn’t actually a “study” per se - is more level headed and goes on to slam the cholesterol-heart hypothesis, previous WHO recommendations, and takes a more nuanced approach towards individual fatty acids. The only thing they have to say about meat is that some processed meats may be bad, from observational studies. BTW, if you don’t download the pdf version, you won’t find this quote about meat-fat in Table 1 at the end:

Meta-analyses of observational studies find that intake of processed meat, but not red meat, is associated with a higher risk of coronary heart disease, which indicates that processing or factors other than the saturated fat content are responsible for any link to cardiovascular disease. [32] A meta-analysis found no difference in cardiovascular disease risk factors between groups with more and less than 0.5 daily servings of meat. [33] https://www.bmj.com/content/366/bmj.l4137

No mention is made of tofu. :wink:

My favorite quote from the linked paper:

Scientific and policy missteps may have led to many unnecessary deaths globally, and lessons should be learned. We think that recommendations to reduce intake of total saturated fat without considering specific fatty acids and food sources are not based on evidence and will distract from other, more effective, food based recommendations. Recommendations to reduce saturated fat might cause a reduction in the intake of nutrient dense foods that are important for preventing disease and improving health. We’re concerned that, based on several decades of experience, a focus on total saturated fat might have the unintended consequence of misleading governments, consumers, and industry towards promoting foods low in saturated fat but rich in refined starch and sugar. [emphasis mine]

That’s about as close to a mea culpa as we’re likely to get any time soon.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #2

I believe that processed meats are associated with heart disease stems from their context in the SAD. Generally people on more unhealthy diets including processed carbs and fats have large amounts of processed meat in their diet as well and are generally disposed toward cardiac disease already. There’s absolutely no evidence that meats processed with nitrates lead to heart disease, nitrates are necessary for vascular health. It’s just more saturated fat lies which this article is supposed to be questioning? I’m confused now…:face_with_monocle: :crazy_face:

:cowboy_hat_face:

#3

Yes. That’s the only thing they couldn’t disprove but that doesn’t mean the link is causal there either. Besides, I thought it was the alleged cancer risk that was the problem. Either way they don’t specify any mechanism, or even type of processing, just an association.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #4

Never mind, :crazy_face: I’m not sure how that came up, not in the article.

But it is funny that they show carb infested high fat foods in the photo leading into the article considering the title. The take away without reading would be that these are okay foods :cowboy_hat_face:

#5

The amount of spin in some of these articles is like … whaaaat? It’s even worse when you have to go search for the original study instead of having a link handy. I’m sure the graphics department had a hard time coming up with a saturated fat food that looked healthy. :roll_eyes:

(Ellenor Bjornsdottir) #6

Coconuts, steak, liver.