In the late 1960s the sugar industry paid-off scientists to publish a report downplaying the role of sugar in cardiovascular disease, key players from the powerful trade body representing the sector cherry-picked the studies used to ensure the finger of blame pointed to fat as the primary culprit in heart disease. The article ended up being published in the highly respected New England Journal of Medicine and the research, as well as the scientists involved, have influenced health policy as well as official governmental dietary guidelines to this very day. From the World Health Organization to the AHA, these unreliable, dated talking points continue to comprise the basis for their warnings that link saturated fat to cardiovascular disease.
“The revelations are important because the debate about the relative harms of sugar and saturated fat continues today … For many decades, health officials encouraged Americans to reduce their fat intake, which led many people to consume low-fat, high-sugar foods that some experts now blame for fueling the obesity crisis.”
READ: How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat
Now, chemically processed and artificial fats like hydrogenated oils are indeed toxic, but natural fats (unlike carbohydrates) are essential to life and play a critical role in everything from hormone production to cellular construction and repair. The human race evolved on a wide range of fats from multiple sources, the most plentiful of which was saturated fat … which ironically is the most demonized of lipids.
Yet, contrary to all the hysteria generated by popular science/medicine over the last 50 years fueled by manipulated data, surreptitious marketing and blatant pay-for-play propaganda driven policy, saturated fats, as borne out by millions of years’ worth of consuming this nutrient rich energy source, as well as its role in eons of human development, are actually the healthiest of all lipids and (in the absence of sugar and trans fats in the diet), saturated fat actually reduces LP(a), the small, highly inflammatory and atherogenic lipoproteins found in arterial plaque … as you would expect high LP(a) levels are a key marker/risk factor for heart disease.
Saturated fat also increases HDL, the high-dense lipoproteins which scavenge the arteries and transport the dangerous, sticky, plaque generating pro-inflammatory, small dense lipoproteins (LDL) out of the arteries, both preventing atherosclerosis and reversing/healing atherosclerotic arteries!
Furthermore, the latest findings show chronic inflammation, not saturated fats, as the cause of heart disease …
“Coronary artery disease pathogenesis and treatment urgently requires a paradigm shift. Despite popular belief among doctors and the public, the conceptual model of dietary saturated fat clogging a pipe is just plain wrong.”
“A landmark systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies showed no association between saturated fat consumption and … coronary heart disease (CHD) … ischaemic stroke or type 2 diabetes in healthy adults.”
“Similarly in the secondary prevention of CHD there is no benefit from reduced fat, including saturated fat, on myocardial infarction, cardiovascular or all-cause mortality.”
In fact …
” … greater intake of saturated fat was associated with less progression of atherosclerosis whereas carbohydrate and polyunsaturated fat intake were associated with greater progression.”
Sugar, as opposed to saturated fat, has been shown to increase the very inflammation levels associated with heart disease. And, as if that were not damning enough, sugar, unlike saturated fat, is being exposed in modern, current research as the ultimate culprit behind atherosclerosis as sugar has been shown to increase LDL (the “bad” cholesterol) and decrease levels of HDL (the “good” cholesterol).
And, even when we talk about LDL being the “bad cholesterol,” it is really the small dense particles that do damage, the very type caused by a low-fat, high carbohydrate diet.
“Increased dietary carbohydrates, particularly simple sugars and starches with high glycemic index, can increase levels of small, dense LDL and HDL, primarily by mechanisms that involve increasing plasma triglyceride concentrations. Low-carbohydrate diets may have the opposite effects.”
READ: Influence of dietary carbohydrate and fat on LDL and HDL particle distributions.
“Regular intake of added sugar was significantly associated with increased triglyceride levels and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels and decreased high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels.”
“Another proposed pathway of the relationship between excessive sugar intake and increased CVD risk is its association with inflammation markers, which are key factors in the pathogenesis of CVD (cardiovascular disease).”
” Several recent studies have indicated an association between higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and inflammatory markers.”
READ: Added Sugar Intake and Cardiovascular Diseases Mortality Among US Adults
“When carbohydrates, particularly refined carbohydrates like sugar, replace saturated fats, which can have a negative impact on lipid profiles (HDL tends to fall and triglycerides tend to rise).”
“The metabolic aspects of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) are complex but existing research suggests that certain SFAs may actually confer measurable benefits for lipid profiles and CHD risk. For instance, some SFAs increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), which is often referred to as the “good cholesterol” as this lipoprotein is associated with a reduced risk of CHD”
READ: Sugar Consumption Plays Greater Role in Heart Disease Than Saturated Fat
A wealth of studies, stats and facts are being ushered into the spotlight by cutting-edge researchers and scientists, the results and conclusions of which are becoming impossible to ignore. The epiphany (sparked by an array of revelatory data) that fats are not the enemy but the saviors of our modern metabolic malaise is finally cracking the wall of disinformation and toppling these popular food myths, and along with it the fallacy that refined carbohydrates are essential or even necessary … far from it, they are the cause, and in many cases an accelerator of numerous metabolic driven diseases.
Additionally, the undeniable experiences of hundreds of thousands of people who are leaner and healthier than ever, along with the proven disease fighting and protective properties associated with the fasting mimicking benefits of ketosis, are inspiring many to adopt a pre-industrialized era approach to nutrition.