6 Reasons the War on Fat Was a Huge

Mistake New

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Health

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Author
Kris Gunnars
The war on saturated fat is the biggest mistake in the history of nutrition.
As people have reduced their intake of animal fat and cholesterol, many serious diseases have
gone up.
We are now in the midst of worldwide pandemics of obesity, metabolic syndrome and type II
diabetes.
Studies conducted in the past few decades conclusively show that neither saturated fat nor
dietary cholesterol cause harm in humans (1, 2, 3, 4).
Scientists are now beginning to realize that the entire low-fat dogma was based on flawed studies
that have since been thoroughly debunked.

The Pictures Tell the Story

Here are 6 graphs that clearly show how incredibly damaging it has been to advise people to
reduce their consumption of animal fat.

1. In Europe, The Countries That Eat The Most Saturated Fat Have The Lowest
Risk of Heart Disease

Data from: Hoenselaar R. Further response from Hoenselaar. British Journal of Nutrition, 2012.
Have you ever heard of the French Paradox?
It is a phrase used to describe the seemingly paradoxical fact that French people have a low
risk of heart disease, while eating a diet that is high in saturated fat.
Well here is the European paradox, where there is simply no correlation between saturated fat
consumption and heart disease deaths in different countries in Europe.
If anything, the countries eating more saturated fat have a lower risk of dying from heart disease.

The reason for this is simple, actually the truth is that saturated fat simply has NOTHING to
do with cardiovascular disease. There is no paradox. It was a myth all along (5).
Thanks to Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt for the enhanced graph.

2. The Obesity Epidemic in The USA Started at Almost The Exact Same Time
The Low-Fat Dietary Guidelines Were Published

Source: National Center for Health Statistics (US). Health, United States, 2008: With Special
Feature on the Health of Young Adults. Hyattsville (MD): National Center for Health Statistics
(US); 2009 Mar. Chartbook.
Back in the year 1977, the low-fat diet was recommended to all Americans. Looking back, it is
interesting to see that the obesity epidemic started at almost the exact same time the guidelines
first came out.
Although this graph doesnt prove anything (correlation does not equal causation), this does
make sense because people started giving up traditional foods like butter, in place of processed
low-fat foods high in sugar.
Since then, many massive studies have been conducted on the low-fat diet. These studies show
clearly that the low-fat diet does not cause weight loss and has zero effect on cardiovascular
disease in the long term (6, 7, 8).
Despite the poor results in the studies, this diet is still recommended by nutrition
organizations all over the world.

3. Diets That Are High in Fat But Low in Carbohydrates

Cause More Weight Loss Than Diets That Are Low in Fat

Source: Brehm BJ, et al. A randomized trial comparing a very low carbohydrate diet and a
calorie-restricted low fat diet on body weight and cardiovascular risk factors in healthy
women. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2003.
If animal fat was as bad as they say, then diets that contain a lot of it should be both fattening and
harmful to your health. However, the studies do NOT back this up.
In the study above, women eating a low-carb, high-fat diet until fullness lost more than twice as
much weight as women eating a calorie restricted low-fat diet.
The truth is, diets that are high in fat (but low in carbs) consistently lead to much better results
than low-fat, high carb diets.
Not only do they cause more weight loss, but they also lead to big improvements in pretty much
all the major risk factors for diseases like cardiovascular disease and diabetes (9, 10, 11).

4. The Diseases of Civilization Increased as Butter and Lard Were Replaced With
Vegetable Oils and Trans Fats

Source: Dr. Stephan Guyenet. The American Diet. 2012.

In the 20th century, several serious diseases became common in humans.
The heart disease epidemic started around 1930, the obesity epidemic started in 1980 and the
diabetes epidemic started around 1990.
Even though these diseases were almost unheard of before, they have now become the biggest
health problems in the world, killing millions of people per year.
It is clear from the graph above, that these diseases have skyrocketed as animal fats have been
replaced with shortening, margarine and processed vegetable oils.

5. The Obesity Epidemic Started as People Reduced Their Intake of Red Meat
and High-Fat Dairy products

Source: Hu FB, et al. Trends in the Incidence of Coronary Heart Disease and Changes in Diet
and Lifestyle in Women. The New England Journal of Medicine, 2000.
It amazes me that some people still blame traditional foods like meat and butter for the diseases
of civilization.
These foods have sustained humans in good health for a very long time and blaming new
diseases on old foods just doesnt make sense.
All the data shows that people actually reduced their consumption of these foods as these
diseases went up.
The graph above, from the Nurses Health Study, shows that Americans were reducing their
intake of red meat and full-fat dairy at the same time the obesity epidemic was starting.

6. In The Framingham Heart Study, Heart Disease Goes up as People Replace

Heart-Healthy Butter With Toxic Margarine

Source: Gillman MW, et al. Margarine intake and subsequent coronary heart disease in
men. Epidemiology, 1997. Photo source: Whole Health Source.
Back when everyone started pointing the finger at saturated fat as the cause of heart
disease, butter and other high-fat dairy products were demonized.
Nutrition professionals all over the world started telling people to replace butter with
margarine which was low in saturated fat, but high in man-made trans fats.
As with so many of the truths in nutrition, this ended up having the exact opposite result.
Whereas saturated fat is harmless, trans fats are highly toxic (12, 13, 14).
In the graph above, based on the Framingham Heart Study, you can see how heart disease risk
goes up as people eat less butter and more margarine instead.
For some very strange reason, many health organizations are still recommending that we avoid
heart-healthy butter and replace it with processed margarine

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