OK, so I’m just going to throw this out there before we get any further. What I’m about to say might confuse a few people. Heck, it might even upset some folk (especially if you own a big-brand health foods company!). Basically, this fat burning foods article will probably be labeled “controversial”.
[youtube:nJTl0Xi1phA?fs=1;[link:Fat Burning Foods: Saturated Fat Is It Bad For Our Health];http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJTl0Xi1phA?fs=1&feature=related]
So what on earth is all the fuss about, you might be thinking. Well I’m going to buck the trend set by the billion-dollar “health foods” industry and mass media. I’m going to poke a little bit further into their so-called health advice.
Just one more thing before we get going: please read this article with an open mind. The supposed facts I’m going to be challenging have been forced into our lives since the 1950’s. So for most of us, it’s all we’ve ever known. I know it’s going to be hard to stick with me, but please do; it’ll be worth it in the end.
The (Flawed) Research Behind Our Fear Of Saturated Fats
Can you believe that saturated fats have been vilified since the 1950’s? You’d be forgiven for thinking that there had been hundreds of studies over the years proving that saturated fats caused heart disease and made us fat. But you’d be wrong.
When Ancel Keys published his paper, “Atherosclerosis, a Problem in Newer Public Health” in 1953, he claimed a “remarkable relationship” between heart disease and fat intake.
Keys studied the data of 6 countries (from 20+ available), and showed that those with the highest number of deaths from heart disease also ate the most fat, while the opposite was true for those countries that had the fewest number of deaths from heart disease. This became known as the diet-heart hypothesis.
At the time, Jacob Yerushalmy was one of Keys’ most stern critics. In 1957 he published a paper showing that the diet-heart hypothesis disappeared if the data from all 22 countries available was considered.
Nevertheless, the American Heart Association (AHA), mass media and health food companies jumped all over Keys’ study. He became a minor scientific celebrity and evolved his work into the 1970’s “7-countries” study.
In this piece of work he posed that animal-fat consumption was closely liked to a risk of heart attack, and that total cholesterol was linked to heart disease. The overall conclusion was that the saturated fats in animal foods (NOT any other types of fat) raised cholesterol and caused heart disease.
Of course this study was flawed; 3 of the countries selected in the study did not support his conclusion. There was also no mention of stress, refined sugar consumption, smoking or exercise levels. But the mass media and health food industry jumped all over the new study.
Fast-forward to the present day, and billion-dollar health companies and food producers are still marketing their products based on these findings. Despite the fact that nobody has ever proven these findings to be true.
As if you had any doubt that billion-dollar corporations and the mass media could influence public opinion. I have to admit, those guys are pretty difficult to argue with!
So then, have there been any findings that prove saturated fats aren’t the enemy? You bet. And guess what, they’re becoming more widely publicized. The really smart people know what the real edible enemies are. And they’re using this information to lose weight and improve their health even as we speak.
If you’re ready to learn the facts about Saturated Fat, you’ll want to check out David Thorpe’s blog. He’ll show you Fat Burning Foods and the bogus “health foods” that are ruining your weight loss.