Could Somone Dissect This Article On Saturated Fat?

[Dream Sphere]

My Dad brought to my attention that there was a guest speaker on my country's public funded news station talking about how saturated fat doesn't increase heart disease risk. I couldn't find the video, but this recent article seems to go over the same thing.

https://www.google.ca/amp/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4085453

I would like to know what you guys make of it. I have a friend in the paleo/ketogenic mindset and saturated fat has been one of our major disagreements, so this would be interesting to learn more on. Btw, I know there's Vegan ketogenic diets, which I've mentioned about to him, but that hasn't moved him yet.


Edit: In the video, my Dad says that the main point was them associating bad insulin levels with heart disease rather than saturated fat with heart disease, and those insulin levels causing the hardening/breaking of the arteries. I'm unsure what to make of it.

The article was kind of vague and not very in depth. So maybe they're making a mountain out of a mole hill and focusing on a marker that has a greater association with the disease, all the while that saturated fat may still have a high association with heart disease, but somewhat less than insulin levels being out of whack?

Basically, vaguely implying saturated fat isn't associated, just because it's less associated than something else (being insulin levels)? Which I think is wrong, but I wouldn't put it past them.

Edit: also, most people on a healthy Vegan diet wouldn't need to worry about insulin levels anyways. But, junkfood Vegans, or overeaters like myself (because I was prescribed olanzapine six months ago) might have to worry about this.

I do recall there being mechanistic studiesbeing referrenced which were supposedly proving saturated fat having an instrumental effect on heart disease. But, my concern is if that's untrue, and it's somehow just about insulin, then while there's no downside if you're a healthy Vegan, there's less push for meat/dairy/egg eaters to be healthier by abstaining from those foods.

Edit: after rereading I replaced "no push" which was obviously wrong, with "less push."

Edit: I found the video. The saturated fat segment starts at 20:40. I haven't watched it yet, but will now.

http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/929676355521

[brimstoneSalad]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturated_fat_and_cardiovascular_disease_controversy

If your father or friend think they are personally qualified to interpret the evidence, or trust in these few diet gurus telling them what they want to hear instead of every major scientific health authority on the planet, then they're basically conspiracy theorists.

They may be interested in flat earthism, 9-11 "truth", and moon landing hoax claims too.

There is a tendency to distrust experts when what they say isn't what you want to believe, and instead cling to any fringe interpretation you can find. It is ill advised, particularly when it comes to health. At least believing the Earth is flat probably won't increase your risk of heart attack.

I recommend reading these, which discuss in part these studies, including quotes from some of their authors.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/magazine/magazine_article/is-butter-really-back/
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2016/06/30/we-repeat-butter-is-not-back/

What the headlines miss is that in a meta-analysis such as this, there is no specific comparison (i.e. butter vs. olive oil), so the default comparison becomes butter vs. the rest of the diet. That means butter is being compared to a largely unhealthy mix of refined grains, soda, other sources of sugar, potatoes, and red meat (for reference, less than five percent of the US population meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans). Partially hydrogenated oils—a source of trans fat—were also in the mix, as they would have been high in the food supply during much of the time period of the studies included.

To summarize the issue, replacing calories from saturated fat with sugar and trans fat is not a road to good health. That's all population studies indicate.

[Dream Sphere]

Thank you very much. Those Harvard articles, particularly the first one, were very informative. I'll show them to my Dad, and highlight the part for him that you took as an excerpt as it's probably the most important part of the article. Thanks again.

Edit: well my Dad now agrees that saturated fat is unhealthy/promotes LDL etc. I'm unsure if I could say that I really changed his mind because he told me that he wasn't so sure of the CBC's video's implications in the first place, but now I've made him certain that they were wrong.

I doubt that I'll be able to change my friend's mind though, (he's closer to what you'd call a health conspiracy theorist) but I'll give it a try the next time I see him.

[brimstoneSalad]

Congratulations, that's good news for your father.

I don't know if I'd waste time on the conspiracy theorist friend. If anything, though, feel him out on conspiracy theories in general; if he thinks some are absurd, you can demonstrate his inconsistency and challenge him to rethink his own pet conspiracy theory.