Natural Fats Can Be Good For You

One day a bunch of corporate executives got together to chew the fat. The subject was junk food and the purpose of the meeting was to figure out how to make junk food sound like health food.

Some of the products discussed were pretty puddings made with artificial coloring, cheap cakes filled with white flour and high fructose corn syrup and crunchy, colorful, tooth-corroding breakfast cereals.

Natural products that contained fat such as milk, cheese, vegetable oil, meat and poultry were also discussed.

The results of the meeting proved so appealing to the corporate executives, that the excitement spread to other junk food manufacturers and their advertising agencies. Pharmaceutical companies, who originally provided the corporations and agencies with their own statistics and who are viewed as being partly responsible for the whole anti-fat movement, smiled knowingly.

What resulted from the above scenario was the creation of over 15,000 reduced-fat products, along with a powerful new consumer mindset; that fat is bad for you.

Food market research now indicates that the low-fat market increases about 8% a year. This includes the many products that are labeled “fat free”, such as soft drinks that never had any fat in their ingredients in the first place. Ironically, those newly labeled products are selling better, now that the packaging says, “fat free”.

New York became one of the first cities to pass a law requiring calorie stickers on food. Restaurants and delicatessens complied, but they were still stuck on that healthy low-fat mindset. TGI Friday’s pecan-crusted chicken salad, served with mandarin oranges, dried cranberries and celery, was listed on the menu as having 1,360 calories, but Friday’s still called it a “healthy option”. All I can say is “consumer beware”.

The American Marketing Association Journal concluded that low-fat foods were associated with good health. That led to related public policies on health; however, the Journal also noted that low-fat foods may also contribute to, rather than solve the obesity problem. Public policy seemed to ignore that part. Why? Because that would have a negative effect on the new “fat-free is good for you” mindset.

Source: http://www.journals.marketingpower.com/doi/abs/10.1509/jppm.26.1.118

In a similar study at Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab, putting low-fat labels on snack foods encouraged people to eat up to 50% more than those who saw labels without the low fat claim. People consumed 84 extra calories in the form of sugar and carbohydrates.

The Harvard School of Public Health believes that “It’s time to end the Low-Fat Myth”

Source: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/

According to the Harvard study, people are lowering their intake of fat, yet a whopping 34 percent of adults are obese (not just chubby) and 11 percent have diabetes, most with type 2 diabetes.

The problem is that when people cut back on eating fat, they often switch to foods high in calories and carbohydrates such as white bread, white rice, potatoes and sugary drinks.

There’s been a great deal of controversy over the past decade about just how bad fat is for your health. What we do know is that there are different kinds of fat found in both natural and processed foods.

Here’s the rundown:
Saturated fat is found in natural products such as butter, bacon, steak, whole milk and many other foods like, coconut oil cottonseed oil, palm kernel oil, and chocolate.

Unsaturated fats are found in fish and vegetables including olive oil, avocados, coconut oil, and some nuts.

Fats also show up as “Trans Fats”, made by adding hydrogen to vegetable oil through a process called hydrogenation. Trans Fats are rare in nature, but occur in the food production process. Also known as “partially hydrogenated oil”, this fat hybrid became a mainstay in restaurants and the food industry. It was (and still is) used for frying and as an ingredient in baked goods, processed snack foods and margarines because it helps foods stay fresh longer and have a less greasy feel.

Today, fast food is the most abundant source of Trans Fat, with desserts, doughnuts, and pastries coming in second place. Some of the more surprising foods that contain Trans Fats include Special K's entire line of healthy weight loss foods and, I’m sad to report, Girl Scout cookies.

Health authorities worldwide recommend that consumption of Trans Fat be reduced because they are know to increase the risk of coronary heart disease, raising bad cholesterol levels (LDL) and lowering good cholesterol levels (HDL).

More surprising foods that contain Trans Fats

The Centers for Disease Control and the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) set rules for what they determine to be a “healthy” cholesterol level. The fact is, that since the guidelines were initiated way back in 1993, the standard for what low LDL (bad cholesterol) means keeps on getting lower. It's not surprising that the driving force behind these revisions come from results gleaned from studies of statin drugs such as atorvastatin (Lipitor) and simvastatin (Zocor). The studies involved only people with heart disease, so the lessons learned don't directly apply to everyone.

Sources: http://www.health.harvard.edu

http://www.thirdage.com

Can You Eat Fat In a Low-Carb Diet?

The New England Journal of Medicine, suggests we stick to naturally occurring oils such as butter and those derived from animal fat. I’m all for that. As a creative cook who enjoys low-carb gourmet recipes, I give that report a big thumbs up.

Factoid:
Julia Child, who died a few days short of her 92nd birthday said, “Oh, butter never hurts you”. Ms. Child is also noted for saying, ''If fear of food continues, it will be the death of gastronomy in the United States.”

Two Canadian studies, have shown that the natural saturated fat found in beef and dairy products can have positive health effects and can lower total and LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

More recent studies suggest that eating diets high in saturated fat did not raise the risk of heart disease, in fact, one highly publicized report analyzed the findings of 21 studies that followed 350,000 people for up to 23 years. They concluded: “There is insufficient evidence from prospective epidemiologic studies to conclude that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, or cardiovascular disease.”

While this study is to date, highly controversial, we must recognize the power of both the pharmaceutical and processed food industry in shaping our perception of what is healthful and what is unhealthful.

Moderation and balance has rarely been disputed by even the most ardent promoters of natural fats in a healthful diet, but let’s also agree not to be fooled by the seductions of corporate advertising; and let’s not forget that for centuries healthy populations used and enjoyed natural, saturated fats like cream, chicken and goose fat, even lard, along with natural monosaturated fats such as olive and coconut oil in their daily diet. They probably did not eat a much meat as we do in today’s society, but they also didn’t eat junk food or other processed foods that factor into today’s problems of obesity and heart disease.

Other Sources:
http://www.thirdage.com/cholesterol

http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/

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