New Study Suggests We Might Have Been Misled About Fat

in food •  7 years ago  (edited)


Fat has been demonized for decades and you hear a lot of fearmongering still today from many people over fat, because for so long we have been told by healthcare professionals that fat directly contributes to a shorter lifespan.

Thanks to the work of Ancel Keys and others, millions of people have been aggressively trying to avoid consuming fat for many years because they fear it will bring about the worst for them. Sometimes, you will find that people are surprised to learn there is fat in many foods that you wouldn't usually expect, like coconuts, olives, or avocados. The fat isn't only to be found in items like cheese, butter, and bacon.

There has been decades of warnings that consuming fat is the worst decision that we could make for our health and that we could only expect negative outcomes if we consume it on a regular basis. And we are told to load up, without worry, on carbohydrates. But is there a chance that we could have been misled? Might we have it all backwards?

According to a recent study...

A diet that contains a high amount of carbohydrates has been associated with a higher risk of mortality, while a high fat consumption diet was seen to be associated with a lowered risk of morality.

The results from the study have been published in The Lancet,

and the study involved over 100,000 participants who self-reported their diets over the span of several years.


An international team of scientists analyzed the diets of the participants, who were between 35 years to 70 years old, and they controlled for things like smoking, sex, age, and physical activity. The participants also came from dozens of different countries; at least 18 different countries.

The participants who ate the highest 20 percent of carbs were seen to have at least a 28 percent increased risk of death, compared to those who ate the lowest 20 percent of carbs. The individuals who consumed the most fat (the highest 20 percent intake of the group) were seen to have a 23 percent reduced risk of death; compared with those who consumed the lowest 20 percent of fat.

They found that fat consumption overall, including polyunsaturated fat, saturated fat, and monounsaturated fat, to be associated with lower mortality.


If it's true that there might not be such a connection between high consumption of fat and increased risk of death, then how could we have been so wrong about it?

Back in the 60's, according to internal sugar industry docs that were uncovered by a researcher at the University of California, the sugar industry had allegedly paid scientists to downplay any health worries that were linked to sugar; while encouraging them to increase the fearmongering for saturated fat.

Their manipulation is alleged to have heavily influenced the industry and played a dominant role in today's dietary recommendations.


Since the decades since then, there has been millions of more dollars that has allegedly been dumped into funding researchers to downplay any worries surrounding sugar consumption.

The debate on whether or not fat and sugar are good still continues today and you'll find a variety of health professionals on either side of the fence. Although, not many on the side promoting fat as a good thing. Health officials are still encouraging Americans to try and avoid consuming fat whenever they can.

Yet, there seems to be a growing trend with consumers these days to try and avoid highly-processed foods that are loaded with carbs and sugar, opting for what they believe to be healthier options for themselves. And we see an increasing number of consumers looking to consume more fat in their diet, despite the still widely held belief that it's the wrong thing to do. The increase in popularity for fat has been attributed to the rise in popular diets like the Paleo, Keto, and Primal diets, which place emphasis on consumption of real foods over highly processed items which contain a lot of additives.

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The information that is posted above is not intended or implied to ever be used as any substitute for professional medical advice, or diagnosis or treatment. The above is posted for informational purposes only.

Sources:
http://www.popsci.com/high-fat-low-carb-heart-health
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)32252-3/fulltext
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/well/new-study-favors-fat-over-carbs.html?mcubz=3
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat.html?action=click&contentCollection=Well&module=RelatedCoverage&region=EndOfArticle&pgtype=article
http://www.confectionerynews.com/Markets/Sugar-health-scare-fails-to-sweeten-sugar-free-chocolate-candy-sales

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Fat and hence cholesterol. Our brains are made of cholesterol. We need it.

rule of thumb.
anything the government (or it's paid lackeys) recommend.
Do the opposite.

  ·  7 years ago Reveal Comment

I used to fully believe that fat was bad, carbs and sugar were good. Now I eat a moderate protein, high fat, and low carb (especially low sugar) diet and I've never felt better.

Once every 2-3 weeks I will do a 're-feed' and go eat all you can eat sushi or something to refill my glycogen stores and power me up for my workouts for a while. But then it's right on back to the low carb, low sugar lifestyle.

Happy to talk with anyone who wants to know more about this way of eating!

Hey @halcyondaze, I've recently made some serious dietary changes due to a Candida overgrowth - no sugar (even fruit), no yeast, no alcohol. Low carb also, although I haven't been able to get into ketosis, I don't think. I think I'm eating just enough carbs to keep my body from shifting fuel source. It's been about two weeks though, and I feel great with minimal cravings. I did really want a beer today after stacking wood though!

Anyway, I'm curious about this "re-feed" to refill your glycogen stores. How do you know when you need that and what is it? Any direction you could point me in would be great, websites, resources, etc.

I challenge anybody out there to eliminate sugar, yeast, and alcohol for a week and see how they feel. It is amazing how pervasive added sugar is....so hard to avoid, but it's worth it. Now, I am really missing the fresh plums that are just ripening on my tree, but this is a critical time to get my gut microbiome under control and so I will just look forward to eating fresh fruit again some other time.

I totally hear you about missing fruit my friend! For me, I do the refeed once every 2 or 3 weeks. The triggers for me are a harder time sleeping, struggling at work outs, and overall lethargy.

There are rules to the refeed, though. I keep protein consistent no matter what I'm eating, but on a refeed day carbs go way up and fat goes way down. You basically live the exact opposite diet that you have been. Hope that helps, feel free to ask any more questions.

thanks for sharing
its really indeed informative and educative

I feel the consumption of processed foods and sugar are also a huge problem to damaging our health.

This is important! Many people mistakenly still believe fat is unhealty, highly oxidated fat aka deep fried fat is bad but olive oil, butter, avocados, animal meat are all good . Iven been eating relative high fat low carb for 2 years and have ideal blood work and bmi we need to spread the word, Resteemed!

Keto is the way to go. "Carbs are the enemy." (Fat Bastard quotes).

Amazing and amazing and Amazing....Thanks for this information, i must to say to my wife this information...

I agree,, avoid processed carbs... and enjoy all the fat you want...

Not really new information. People are probably being mislead about how bad carbs are now.

In reality, guess what is truly important. Moderation. A balanced diet filled with a variety of foods and sufficient nutrients. Crazy!

Ketogenic diet seems a healthy diet, a diet you can eat mainly fat!

Of COURSE we've been mislead; it was based on government "science." Since I've switch to low-carb (at most 20% of calories), my blood work has improved spectacularly.

Cholesterol is vital, not only for the brain but also for testosterone production. To quote an Australian TV documentary: taking statins to cure high cholesterol is like cutting a tree for a few bad branches

Pork is not dirty, pork is a very clean meat. The fat we get in pork is good in moderation. Food is fuel nothing more and i cook it for a living. But it is so much better to doll it up or eat bad because it tastes good. Keto diet is a perfect example of fat based diets. Great job on the informative info.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

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Agreed I don’t trust anything these media types say. Since I have eaten more protein and coconut fat I feel great. And lots of cheese ofcourse :)

La comida que no es saludable .tiene sabor mas rico .

Pork is not dirty, pork is a very clean meat. The fat we get in pork is good in moderation. Food is fuel nothing more and i cook it for a living. But it is so much better to doll it up or eat bad because it tastes good. Keto diet is a perfect example of fat based diets. Great job on the informative info.

Ohh i need to lower my consumption of carbs now!

I keep my vote my bot made but I disagree with the conclusion of the study. I don't know why they came to the conclusion they came nor do I pretend to know.

From what I know from science eating above a certain % of calories from fat is deleterious to one's health. I even eventually plan on posting on the subject of nutrition.

& thx for even reading it :) lol cheers

Really nice, i just checked the original paper, and its right !!!! the statistical analysis and the confidence intervals are pretty well !!!!! Hurraaaa for fat!!!!!!

Thank you for sharing this sir!

Since switching to Keto, i've never felt better.

Don't eat fat, eat more fat, don't eat meat, eat more meat, sugar is bad, alternatives even worse. Let's just agree that they don't know and apparently so far haven't really been all that right!

On the flipside, when we look at healthy people, oftentimes these people pay very little attention to what they are eating.

Perhaps the best way, as always, is to just use common sense. Not too much, not too little. Extreme is never good, and avoiding things entirely is always extreme. Moderation means you can eat bad stuff too in great amounts, if you only do it sometimes. Otherwise it wouldn't be moderate, but rather extreme.

The problem with fat is that not all fats are the same. Trans fats are terrible, possibly the worst thing someone can ingest. Second there are saturated fats, which is mostly neutral. And then there are the unsaturated fats, which is mostly beneficial, specifically the monounsaturated ones.

Yea!! Back to my bacon diet.

Great article thank you for sharing.

Also just saw this recent post on Steemit, super explanation on the types of fat and differences between healthy and unhealthy fat:
https://steemit.com/food/@thehutchreport/fat-explained-do-not-be-misled-by-fat-anymore

I've known about this since watching the movie "Fathead" I always do a ketogenic diet and fast in between. As long as I stay active I lose fat and feel healthy. Five years ago I was 300+ pounds. I dropped to 185lbs within three months. Went back up to 217lbs and now I'm 198lbs.

The fact is that through "Evolution" we needed fats to become more intelligent. At least that's what I've read. If someone has the quote for fact check that would be awesome so we can ad it to the chain.

I knew it, bacon makes us smarter. Good thing I love eggs with my bacon!🐓
Real Butter on my pancakes and biscuits is delightful!

My brother eats heavy and he got his heart arteries clogged. So eating fat is way bad.

Every cell in our body is lined with fat. Fat is very important. Pass the butter please. Pasture butter of course