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by userbinator 3220 days ago
Not too much and not too little, seems to be the way to go. But, given the amount of previous research about harmful effects of fat, it's hard to tell whether this is just an outlier. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if "High-fat diet could kill you, major study shows" has appeared in headlines more than once.

"Loosening the restriction on total fat and saturated fat and imposing limits on carbohydrates when high to reduce intake to moderate levels would be optimal."

Emphasis mine. What...?

3 comments

> But, given the amount of previous research about harmful effects of fat

Dietary fat has been shown to be healthy over and over again. There's nothing controversial about saying dietary fat is good for you; it is established science at this point.

I believe what the quote was trying to say about saturated fat is that they feel it is less dangerous than carbohydrates and sugars, and while the UK food industry has been busy trying to reduce the amount of saturated fat, they've sometimes been replacing them with sugar/carbohydrate ingredients which could be even worse for your health.

It is frankly disappointing that even thirty years later, many people still believe that dietary fat is unhealthy.

Because people think fat in nutrition = fat in the body. And looking at the amount of low-fat products on the shelves, people just don't care enough to work out the difference themselves.
Not to mention the government and most nutritionists have lied about cholesterol and saturated fat for what, like 40 years now?

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Food-Pyramid-Politics-Interests...

Not an easy task when the medical profession and governments have said that fat in nutrition == fat in the body for decades.

With this kind of "science" in our history it isn't surprising that many don't believe today's climate scientists.

I would take the results of this with a grain of salt. Linking saturated fats and coronary heart disease is not as simple as we'd like it to be. The first reference this article lists in particular has many reasons to stay skeptical[1].

[1] http://www.bmj.com/content/355/bmj.i5796/rr-4

fwiw: https://www.xperthealth.org.uk/Home/News/ArtMID/454/ArticleI...

The usual pattern of research is for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to be performed to confirm or deny trends identified in observational studies. In the case of SFAs however, there have already been a number of RCTs performed; and even a number of systematic reviews and meta-analyses pooling their outcomes (e.g. 6-11). This raises the immediate question, why are observational studies still being produced on the subject? It is notable that the evidence from these RCT’s and meta-analyses does not support the conclusions of the Harvard Group’s observational data. For example, a recent Cochrane review (the gold-standard of evidence) found that there was no statistical difference in all-cause or cardiovascular disease mortality in participants with higher SFA intake (12).

There's a difference between dietary and saturated fat.
Saturated fat is specific, "dietary fat" isn't.
It's way too easy to binge on carbs and it's really really hard to eat too much fat. I've guzzled 6 packs of beer and eaten entire pizzas in a sitting more times than I care to admit. (Also because I lost count after the first dozen times or so).

Now that I'm on a low-carb high-fat diet, I find myself eating until I'm full, and at that point I simply have too much fat and protein in my stomach for my body to even want any more food, so I stop. Then I wake up the next morning to find yet another half-pound of body fat has mysteriously vanished and my clothes fit better.

I switched to a roughly 40/30/30 split of carbs/protein/fat (including lots of saturated fat and at least 120g of protein/day) a couple of years ago. I have never been so lean and my athletic performance has improved hugely.

Saturated fat is my friend.

I'm assuming "when high" refers to carbohydrate intake.

Though really, the sentence works regardless /s.