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"Fat will make you fat." "Saturated fat is dangerous!" These food beliefs exist in many places and are spread in some health communities. Christine Cronau writes about these misunderstandings concerning fat (among other health topics), and I caught up with her to address a few questions about fat and saturated fat. A little bit about her:
"Food Myth Buster" Christine Cronau is a nutrition expert, author, speaker, entrepreneur and mother of two. After transforming her body and her health, Christine is revolutionising the way we eat for longevity, pleasure and happiness. At 41, Christine shows us how to look and feel our best at any age. Christine has been studying health and nutrition for over 10 years, and uses her knowledge as a natural health advocate; she exposes major food myths that are keeping us fat and sick.You can check out her website at Christine Cronau.
1. I recently interviewed Tom Naughton - who challenged the food pyramid and Dr. Layne Norton, who wrote, "I think you could turn the food guide pyramid upside down and it probably would work better." What are your views on the food pyramid?
If someone wants to get fat, then I suggest following the food pyramid. Back in the 1940s, a few farmers fed their cows saturated fat in an attempt to fatten them before selling them at the market. To their surprise, the cows didn’t gain weight; they lost body fat and became more active. Ever since then, farmers have fattened cows with grain, yet we still recommend a grain-based diet to people! Grain fattens cows, and it fattens us too.
2. In one of the videos I saw with you, another individual claimed that tens of thousands of studies have linked saturated fat to heart disease (here). Some in the medical community, especially here in the United States, seem convinced that saturated fat is dangerous. How do you address these popular misconceptions about saturated fat?
I find it astounding that every time they mention the ‘thousands’ of studies that have linked saturated to heart disease, they never manage to quote a single one. The simple fact is, there is no evidence linking saturated fat to heart disease, and in fact, there is a mountain of evidence to the contrary. Occasionally, I have put my ‘devil’s advocate’ hat on, and gone in search of the studies that mainstream health organisations swear show the correlation. Normally, I have to dig deep into their website to even find any studies, and the ones I do find, don’t prove their point at all. I am still waiting for someone to show me one study that proves saturated fat is bad for us. We have taken health authorities at their word that they exist, but the simple fact is, they don’t.
What about Ancel Keys? Didn’t he prove it? Ancel’s famous Seven Country Study, showed a direct correlation between saturated fat and heart disease. The paper he published sounded very convincing, but there was a problem with his study. He had data available from 22 countries, but he only used data from seven: Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, Netherlands, Finland, USA and Japan. The trend between saturated fat consumption and heart disease looked unmistakable. But, the countries that were left out showed the opposite. Other countries showed very high intakes of saturated fat and very little heart disease, for example Holland and Norway. And, people in countries like Chile ate very little fat but had very high rates of heart disease. All the data analysed together showed no correlation between fat consumption and heart disease. At the time, Ancel Keys received pressure to do a clinical study, because many scientists were sceptical of his results.
Ancel was involved in a full scientific study in 1972; the Minnesota Coronary Survey. That study showed that people on a cholesterol-lowering diet had a significantly greater mortality, but the results weren’t published for seventeen years. When Gary Taubes, an award winning science journalist, asked Ivan Frantz Jr, the leader of the survey, why the results weren’t published, he said ‘We didn’t like the results.’
The Surgeon General’s office in the U.S. did the same thing. In the early 1980s, they strongly recommended that the public lower their fat intake to protect themselves from heart disease. They conducted a review to examine all the available evidence and to prove the cholesterol hypothesis once and for all, probably to quiet people like me. After eleven years, they cancelled the project, because they couldn’t do it. When interviewed later, Bill Harlan said ‘The report was initiated with a preconceived opinion of the conclusions, but the science behind those opinions was clearly not holding up. Clearly the thoughts of yesterday were not going to serve us very well.’ But, they didn’t release a report to advise us they were wrong.
3. What are some of the health benefits of saturated fat and what are good sources of it?
We need fat and cholesterol to be healthy! Fat really is our friend. We need fat and cholesterol for our immune system to function effectively and for effective brain development and cell renewal. Cholesterol is also an anti-inflammatory, an antioxidant, and essential for vitamin D production. We also need fat and cholesterol to have healthy skin, hair, and nails. Our looks on the outside showcase the health of our system on the inside. This is often why vegans age very quickly, and develop far more wrinkles than someone else of the equivalent age; they simply need more fat. And our hormones are dependent on fat and cholesterol, including our sex hormones!
Serious depression and high suicide levels have also been linked to low cholesterol levels because production of serotonin (our ‘feel good’ hormone) depends on cholesterol.
In women especially, as we get older, the higher our cholesterol, the better our life-expectancy. Yet, we are continually trying to lower our cholesterol. As a result, we get sick, we get depressed, we lose our libido and often, the purpose in living. The Cholesterol and all-cause mortality in elderly people study found significantly greater mortality in those with low levels of cholesterol. Researchers stated the following in their conclusion, ‘We have been unable to explain our results. These data cast doubt on the scientific justification for lowering cholesterol to very low concentrations.’
Many people don’t realise just how important this life-giving nutrient really is. This is just one of the reasons I say that reducing fat intake has been the biggest health blunder in history.
4. What are some ways that individuals can contribute to ending these popular misconceptions about fat ("fat makes you fat")?
Spread the word! We are now at a crisis point. Modern, chronic disease is just that; modern. It didn’t exist before we decided to substitute real, tasty food with artificial replacements like processed vegetable oil and margarine. It also didn’t exist before we started mass producing sugar and adding it to everything. This information saves lives, and the more people know about it, the better. At least they can then make an informed choice.
