Dr. Levi passed this on to me back in February. A bit of a gem of a find. Before we get to the gem, lets look at what we know now. Well, let’s first look at what we teach, contrary to what “those people” know. This, by the way, goes perfectly with the film “Doctored”, coming up next Monday night (4/22) at 7pm in our office. Doctored is a bit of a “set you on fire” film. Sign up today, and bring a friend, the world is depending on you, seriously.
OK.. first, we are major proponents of the eat healthy saturated fat often… such as coconut oil. Second, we are proponents of the eat omega 3 fatty acids often, and avoid omega 6 fatty acids other than those present naturally in foods (mostly vegetables – hence vegetable oil). If you wonder why you should avoid vegetable oil, its simply that the oil comes from an awfully large pile of vegetables to fill a bottle. Stay away.
OK, so that is what we believe. This is what they believe.
Avoid fat, all of it, especially saturated fat, if you have to eat fat, it should be vegetable oils, omega-6. The FDA will support this in every way possible, providing open territory for shelf stable fats and fat by-products, such as trans fat, olestra (remember that one) and anything else that might reduce the likelihood of saturated fat consumption.
I am sure if you have read anything on the dietitian’s guide to nutrition, you would have heard at some point, “STAY AWAY FROM COCONUT OIL”. This has been a hallmark of wise eating, yet now, things have changed, and not just from our side of the fence. Here is the “other side” of the fence story now.
As you glance this abstract, notice the design is based on recovering data from 1966… data that would have changed the world if it had been reviewed properly then, and used. Was it lost? Yes, but most likely on purpose.
http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.e8707
Abstract
Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of replacing dietary saturated fat with omega 6 linoleic acid, for the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease and death.
Design Evaluation of recovered data from the Sydney Diet Heart Study, a single blinded, parallel group, randomized controlled trial conducted in 1966-73; and an updated meta-analysis including these previously missing data.
Participants 458 men aged 30-59 years with a recent coronary event.
Interventions Replacement of dietary saturated fats (from animal fats, common margarines, and shortenings) with omega 6 linoleic acid (from safflower oil and safflower oil polyunsaturated margarine). Controls received no specific dietary instruction or study foods. All non-dietary aspects were designed to be equivalent in both groups.
Outcome measures All cause mortality (primary outcome), cardiovascular mortality, and mortality from coronary heart disease (secondary outcomes). We used an intention to treat, survival analysis approach to compare mortality outcomes by group.
Results The intervention group (n=221) had higher rates of death than controls (n=237) (all cause 17.6% v 11.8%, hazard ratio 1.62 (95% confidence interval 1.00 to 2.64), P=0.05; cardiovascular disease 17.2% v 11.0%, 1.70 (1.03 to 2.80), P=0.04; coronary heart disease 16.3% v 10.1%, 1.74 (1.04 to 2.92), P=0.04). Inclusion of these recovered data in an updated meta-analysis of linoleic acid intervention trials showed non-significant trends toward increased risks of death from coronary heart disease (hazard ratio 1.33 (0.99 to 1.79); P=0.06) and cardiovascular disease (1.27 (0.98 to 1.65); P=0.07).
Conclusions Advice to substitute polyunsaturated fats for saturated fats is a key component of worldwide dietary guidelines for coronary heart disease risk reduction. However, clinical benefits of the most abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid, omega 6 linoleic acid, have not been established. In this cohort, substituting dietary linoleic acid in place of saturated fats increased the rates of death from all causes, coronary heart disease, and cardiovascular disease. An updated meta-analysis of linoleic acid intervention trials showed no evidence of cardiovascular benefit. These findings could have important implications for worldwide dietary advice to substitute omega 6 linoleic acid, or polyunsaturated fats in general, for saturated fats.
Our Conclusion, in lay terms… We Were Right… but before we even knew we were right, their research said we were right, and before they had research that said that we/they were gonna be right… your grandma knew. So she made everything with lard, and ate a lot of animal fat, and was actually a lot healthier than we are today. But the beauty, was that the animals were in a pasture, and they were eating grass, and they weren’t drugged, and they were happy in their lives so they had less stress hormone in their meat. Eat clean fats, and eat natural ones. The Earth was made to provide you with all that you need if you choose wisely. This is the truth, and this truth shall set you free.
Be well, be blessed, and be prepared to eat some healthy fat! – Dr. E