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by joe-collins 999 days ago
Saturated fats convert to cholesterol, high values of which is a common health problem. So this sounds like a great health improvement?

The only possible downside I see in this very thin reporting is the usual feel of ickiness some folks get out of an appeal to nature fallacy.

2 comments

> Saturated fats convert to cholesterol, high values of which is a common health problem.

High blood cholesterol levels is a common health problem, but it doesn't follow that consuming too much cholesterol causes high blood cholesterol levels—it could be that the body can normally handle any amount of cholesterol/cholesterol precursor consumption within a wide range, but a dysfunction in the regulation mechanism results in health problems. And in fact, double-blind trials seem to support this theory:

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIR.00000000000...

"Evidence from observational studies conducted in several countries generally does not indicate a significant association [of dietary cholesterol] with cardiovascular disease risk."

> An appeal to nature fallacy

The theory of natural selection predicts that human metabolism is best adapted to consuming food similar to what was available for most of our evolutionary history.

GP said nothing about dietary cholesterol. It's well researched that high levels of saturated fats increases blood cholesterol, though. The conversion is dietary saturated fat to blood serum cholesterol.
There is emerging evidence that high cholesterol on its own is not sufficient to cause heart disease. See https://cholesterolcode.com/ .