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Fatty foods not bad for you?

Friday, February 5, 2010
 
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Here's good news for those of us who are rather partial to meat-heavy barbecues or nice rich cheeses: researchers have found that there is no clear link between saturated fat intake and heart disease.

The findings, which were reached after an analysis of 21 past studies, contradict earlier conclusions about the risks involved with raising so called "bad" cholesterol, a result of consuming saturated fats, Reuters reported.

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American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines suggest adults should get no more than 7 percent of their daily kilojoule intake from fat (which translates as just 16g of meat — not a hearty portion!), but the new study indicates that there is no proven link between saturated fat intake and heart disease.

However, don't all run for the deli counter just yet. The findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, have been downplayed by a former AHA president.

"No-one is saying that some saturated fat is going to harm you," said Professor Robert H Eckel, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado. "People should enjoy their food."

But, he added, many studies had shown that saturated fat still resulted in a rise in cholesterol and that doctors' advice on fat intake would not change in light of these findings.

Professor Eckel added that dietary thinking was moving away from concentrating on single nutritional elements towards more wide-ranging "dietary patterns".

What do you think? Do you have family members who have had high fat diets and lived to a ripe old age? Share your thoughts below.

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Basically, it all comes down to the age-old saying ' Eat everything in moderation '
My grandfather lived through the depression eating bread spread with the meat drippings and the marrow from bones - and never lost his love for meat and fat and a good hearty serve of cheese each day. He was a big eater of everything but worked so hard his weight always remained constant. He died at age 87 from lung cancer (he'd been smoking since he was 12) but had also worked in a galvanising plant so who knows what caused the cancer.
My husbands Pop lived until the ripe old age of 90 and it wasn't all the years of bread and dripping that got him in the end, nor was it high cholesterol.
My late husband,s grandfather was a huge meat lover,any kind of meat,the fattier the better for him,plus large helpings as well.Added to that he would have as many vegies as there was served,all smothered in salt & pepper,real butter,gravy,and tomato sauce.For dessert he would have pudding with custard,cream,ice-cream,and sugar sprinkled over the lot.!!He was by no means a big man,average height,smoked a pipe,loved a beer,very fit and disgustingly healthy,never sick a day in his life and lived well into his eighties.His son,my late father-in-law,had a very similar diet and died in his 70,s from a form of cancer,and his son,my late husband,although a lover of all things food,and also very fit and healthy like his family before him,died at the age of 49 from non-hodgkins lymphoma,so go figure,!!
My parents had a very high fat diet. My dad ate bread with his butter and he loved every kind of cheese and cold meat. We grew up with the tradtional sunday roast, roasted meat, crispy roast potatoes basted with fat plus all the trimmings. My mom cooked with butter and fat, olive oil for cooking in SA back then was unknown. My dad passed away when he was 73 and my mom was 84. Today I am a very careful cook trimming all visible fat off meat before cooking, my husband hates fat or chicken skin with a passion ! I use olive oil for cooking, extra virgin for salad dressings, we have very little cheese and cold meats, lots of salads and "healthy foods". My husband is 61, he has suffered with high cholesterol for years and has, thank heavens, survived 3 heart attacks. Go figure !!!!!
I have to say that I tend to agree with this finding. I am from a German background and was used to eating a lot fatty foods, including butter rather than margarine and full cream milk. I never had a weight problem. After I got married to my health conscious husband, we where eating low fat foods, drinking skim milk etc. My weight what just going up and down, it was awful and I never felt really good.. Now we are divorced and I'm back to eating "normal" foods, including fatty things, like full cream milk and butter and my weight has stabilised to 59kg at 170cm. I feel much better and have more energy. No more low fat foods for me.
Their may be no link with saturated fat and heart disease but lets get real when taking on board this new evidence.Too much will make you fat and raise the risk of blockages to the heart and the risk of contracting many other weight related diseases,including shock horror "heart disease".As with most things in this world a common scense approach to our diet is all that is needed to help prevent these things happening.So before you think because your fat uncle lived to be 90,chances are it more down to luck and fluky genetics than his high fat diet.
Yes my father is 88 & has always had a high fat diet, but only home cooking with alot of fat &oil. He has very rarely eaten junk food. He has high cholesterol & so is on medication for that however he has not had any heart problems & was given a good report on his last heart check. When he was young a part of their diet was bread & dripping(fat). So maybe there is some truth in it.
The body needs saturated fat for,cell membrane construction,fuel source,and for protection,fake saturated fat is what is dangerous [hydrogenated fat]

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