Start spreading the news - saturated fat 'is not so bad,' says study

US research suggests that margarine might have been more
harmful than butter and lard all along

By Jeremy Laurance
The Independent
Tuesday, February 5, 2013

For 50 years we have been told to cut down on lard and
butter while eating more sunflower oil and margarine.

The dietitians’ rule of thumb has been saturated animal
fat = bad, polyunsaturated vegetable fat = good

But now US scientists are questioning the conventional
wisdom, and asking whether margarine might have been more
harmful for us all along.

Cutting down on saturated animal fat lowers cholesterol
and thus reduces the risk of heart attack. However, the
new analysis of a study conducted in the late 1960s and
early 1970s, some of the data from which had been missing
for decades, has revealed that people who followed the
standard advice and substituted margarine in place of
butter died sooner than those who made no change to their
diet.

The researchers from the National Institutes of Health in
the US say in the British Medical Journal that their
findings could have “important implications for worldwide
dietary recommendations.”

The US scientists decided to re-investigate a heart study
conducted in Sydney, Australia, between 1966 and 1973,
because it was the only randomised controlled study to
examine the impact of increasing consumption of omega 6
polyunsaturated fatty acid, also known as linoleic acid.

Linoleic acid – omega 6 – is the most prevalent
polyunsaturated fat in most Western diets and is found in
high amounts in vegetable oils such as corn, sunflower,
safflower and soybean and in margarines made from these
oils.

Most studies of dietary interventions have involved
multiple changes. The Sydney heart study was the only one
to look specifically at the effect of increasing intake
of omega 6.

The study was conducted among 458 men aged 30 to 59 who
had recently had a heart attack, half of whom were
advised to cut their animal fat consumption and replace
it with safflower oil and safflower oil margarine. They
were followed for over three years and the results,
published in the British Medical Journal, showed that
those who ate more safflower oil had a higher risk of
death from all causes, including from heart disease.

In an editorial, Professor Philip Calderwood from the
University of Southampton said the findings argued
against the “saturated fat bad, omega 6 good” dogma.

But the study was roundly criticised by other experts.
Professor Tom Sanders, head of the nutritional sciences
division, Kings College, London, said it was “enormously
underpowered,” of “little relevance to diets today” and
its findings had been refuted by recent better studies.

Brian Ratcliffe, professor of nutrition at Aberdeen
University, said: “This paper does not provide evidence
for changes to the current recommendations for a healthy
diet.” It was already known that a healthy diet involved
striking a balance between omega 3 and omega 6 fatty
acids and that diets in developed countries were too
imbalanced in favour of omega 6.

Catherine Collins, principal dietitian at St George’s
hospital, London, said understanding of the link between
diet and heart disease had become “much more
sophisticated” in the 40 years since the study was
conducted.

“Our diet is now naturally higher in mono-unsaturates
(olive oil and rapeseed oil) which is protective against
omega-6 fats, but for the older generation who still
choose polyunsaturated margarines, and fry foods
regularly in corn or sunflower oils, a change to
‘vegetable oil’ (rapeseed oil) is all that is necessary
to limit risk from linoleic acid,” she said.

History: Butter vs margarine

A staple of the Northern European diet for more than
1,000 years, butter is made by churning fresh cream or
milk, and is used in numerous types of cooking. But today
it is considered unhealthy due to its high saturated-fat
content.

The development of an alternative began with French
chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul’s discovery of margaric
acid in 1813. Another French chemist, Hippolyte Mège-
Mouriès, invented oleomargarine, which became shortened
to margarine in 1869. Margarine is made of vegetable fats
and was thought to be lower in cholesterol and saturated
fats than animal products.

More at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...y-8482321.html

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

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