Chewing the Fat is Good? (Read 598 times)

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/cholesterol/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100172801&page=1

What if Bad Fat Is Actually Good for You? For decades, Americans have been told that saturated fat clogs arteries and causes heart disease. But there's just one problem: No one's ever proved it. Suppose you were forced to live on a diet of red meat and whole milk. A diet that, all told, was at least 60 percent fat — about half of it saturated. If your first thoughts are of statins and stents, you may want to consider the curious case of the Masai, a nomadic tribe in Kenya and Tanzania. In the 1960s, a Vanderbilt University scientist named George Mann, M.D., found that Masai men consumed this very diet (supplemented with blood from the cattle they herded). Yet these nomads, who were also very lean, had some of the lowest levels of cholesterol ever measured and were virtually free of heart disease. Scientists, confused by the finding, argued that the tribe must have certain genetic protections against developing high cholesterol. But when British researchers monitored a group of Masai men who moved to Nairobi and began consuming a more modern diet, they discovered that the men's cholesterol subsequently skyrocketed. Similar observations were made of the Samburu — as well as the Fulani of Nigeria. While the findings from these cultures seem to contradict the fact that eating saturated fat leads to heart disease, it may surprise you to know that this "fact" isn't a fact at all. It is, more accurately, a hypothesis from the 1950s that's never been proved. [...]

Excellent article. Very informative. Just like your mom told you, a little bit of everything is fine. Eat a balanced diet. Thanks for posting.

This is nothing new...read the NYT article What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie? by Gary Taubes. Even earlier than that (mid 1800s) William Banting wrote his Letter on Corpulence. I personally lost 60#s on the Atkins Diet (which is not about sitting around eating buttered steaks and cheese, as many critics who have not actually studied the plan like to crow, but about cutting processed foods, white flour, white sugar, white rice and other high glycemic carbs out...I ate a TON of veggies and salads--far more than I eat while on a "normal" diet) and weight training...regained 20 of those pounds as soon as I went back to the carbier fare, as it causes my blood sugar to rollercoaster and awful appetite issues to set in. If I could figure out a way to go back to very low carb and still run I definitely would.