The headline looks like a hoax -- saturated fat does not
cause heart disease -- but it's real.
This news is more than just another example of changing health guidelines; it's
a cautionary tale about trusting the scientific consensus.
For more than 50 years, the best scientific minds in
America assured us that saturated fat was the enemy. Animal fat, we were
instructed, was the chief culprit in causing obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart
disease.
Throughout my adult life, I have conscientiously followed
the guidelines dispensed by the health arbiters of our age. Trusting utterly in
the scientific research of the American Heart Association, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, I accepted the nearly
universal wisdom of the medical and nutritional experts.
Boy, did I accept. I practically banned red meat from my
diet for decades. Butter? Only on special occasions. Cream? Do they still make
it? Lean chicken, turkey and fish, combined with complex carbohydrates and, of
course, lots of fruits and vegetables were the ticket, I was certain, to the
best odds of avoiding heart disease, diabetes and cancer. When the Atkins diet
craze swept the country, I shook my head sadly, half expecting my friends who
indulged in it to keel over from heart attacks.
Now, the Annals of Internal Medicine declares that beef,
butter and cream do not cause heart disease. Women whose total cholesterol
levels are high live longer than those with lower levels. ….To Read More
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