Think Saturated Fat Contributes to Heart Disease? Think Again…

Good to see that another scientific "consensus" that had more to do with the loudest voices taking over a debate, and not the evidence, finally starting to crumble. I'm sure there is much work to be done before a properly understood and nuanced view of diet and health takes its place. Leading Scientists Re-Examine the Role of Saturated Fat in the Diet For the past three decades, saturated fat has been considered a major culprit of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and as a result dietary advice persists in recommending reduced consumption of this macronutrient.  However, new evidence shows that saturated fat intake has only a very limited impact on CVD risk -- causing many to rethink the “saturated fat is bad” paradigm.  A series of research articles published in the October issue of Lipids[1] provides a snapshot of recent advances in saturated fat and health research, based on science presented at the 100th American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS) annual meeting in Orlando, Florida (May 2009).  During a symposium entitled “Saturated Fats and Health: Facts and Feelings,” world-renowned scientists specializing in fat research analyzed the evidence between saturated fat intake and health, and overall agreed upon the need to reduce over-simplification when it came to saturated fat dietary advice. Via the Food & Health Skeptic And if you haven't already done so, I'd highly recommend this piece from The New York Times: Diet and Fat: A Severe Case of Mistaken Consensus This gives you a good explanation of why you don't need foul conspiracy for bad ideas to prosper and take over scientific discourse, becoming an orthodoxy that must be protected from heresy. And while it does not mention climate change, I defy anyone to read it and not be struck by the disturbing similarities between the two issues, especially in how the 'fat is bad' meme became taken up by the political and bureaucratic elites as an item of faith and those who dared to criticise it were denounced as the stooges of industry in terms that effectively painted them as morally deficient sinners.