A Big Fat Surprise – Nonsense

May 27, 2014 in Foodland Chronicles, Health, Mediterranean, Nutritionism, Uncategorized by Joyce Bunderson

On May 6, 2014, Nina Teicholz’s article, The Questionable Link Between Saturated Fat and Heart Disease was published in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). I frequently like the articles in the WSJ, this one ….  not so much. My rationale is that it has the potential of driving people to eat in unhealthy ways, like the glut of Fat Belly diets. The thesis of Ms. Teicholz’s article is that saturated fat does not cause heart disease; that we’ve all been duped into believing erroneous research. She attacks the original researcher that suggested that we Americans should cut back on saturated fat – Ancel Keys, the epidemiologist who discovered the correlation between eating more vegetables, and less saturated fat from meat and cheese, leads to improved heart health. The article’s long, but read it for yourself. If you love meat and cheese and would like to believe that the interpretation of the research is invalid, even buy her book.  That is what the publishers of the article hope. But consider a broader picture first, and maybe you’ll decide not to be too hasty in jumping onto her bandwagon.

One of the first issues that I want to address is that Teicholz, in writing this outrageous article, benefits the sales of her book that was just published on May 13, 2014 (an unlucky day for the throngs that will likely adopt its precepts as the latest in fat-loving Atkins-style recommendations).  Her book, “The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet,” builds a rationale for those who love the fabulous flavors and textures of salty, fatty foods like bacon, butter and cheese. Unfortunately, it may build plaque in their arteries at the same time. I enjoy the saturated fat foods too, but if I don’t want the same diseases that my family has suffered from, I need to have a little restraint in including them in my diet.

Next let me say that the research published in Annals of Internal Medicine in March that Teicholz based her review upon never said that saturated fat is healthy. Part of Teicholz’s argument is that we’ve switched to eating simple carbohydrates that drive us to diabetes and therefore heart disease. Of course, readers of this blog know that we realize that simple carbs and sugar are not healthy choices, but the fact is that it is not an either/or type of question. If simple carbs and sugar are not healthy, it does not make saturated fat healthy. It’s clearly faulty logic. She writes that excessive carbohydrates lead to obesity, but we know that, certainly excess fat calories can do the same thing. And if you want to use both frequently, that will speed your arrival to the state of obesity. The fact is that both types of food are less than optimal as frequent food choices. Showing that simple carbohydrates are not healthy does not prove that saturated fats are a healthy choice. The point is that the Annals study, found that the decrease in foods containing saturated fat have been replaced by foods that are just as bad; not that saturated fat was doing us a favor.

No research suggests that there is a health benefit derived from adding meat, cheese or butter to our diets. There is a plethora of evidence that strongly supports a diet of mostly plants. Healthy diets that are high in fat, like those in the Mediterranean countries are usually high in monounsaturated fats. Please see the charts of the various oils; oils have more or less of the various types of fatty acids. For example, olive oil has saturated fats, but is higher in monounsaturated fats. In a similar fashion, Teicholz’s argument that using liquid vegetable oils creates unhealthy oxidation products does not change saturated fat somehow to a healthy food to ‘beef up’ on.

For those that are interested in healthy eating there is an abundance of good research that supports eating a diet rich in fish, nuts, vegetables and fruits; we commonly call this style of eating the Mediterranean-style diet.  This is not based on just one outlier study or a fluky review; rather, a great abundance of strong research tells us over and over again that eating lots of plants, nuts, seeds, and true whole grains leads to less heart disease and diabetes.

For example just last week in the May 19, 2014, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a study was published. Science is getting closer to understanding why the Mediterranean-style of eating is healthful. The new study has discovered that the unsaturated fatty acids found in olives, nuts and fish oils, when combined with nitrates or nitrites, found in vegetables and leafy greens (like beetroot, spinach, celery, carrots, beet tops, etc) form something called nitro fatty acids. The nitro fatty acids lower blood pressure by inhibiting a particular enzyme.  So, of course, the pharmaceutical companies are working to develop medications that duplicate the nitro fatty acids that are produced by the two types of foods. Certainly, we wouldn’t want simply to eat the vegetables and put a little olive oil-based dressing on our salads. Where would the immense profit be, if we did something so simple? The secret of the Mediterranean-style of eating may be in the salad, or stir-fry, or the marinara sauce – a mixture of vegetables and olive oil, or some nuts or seeds sprinkled on top.  Or perhaps it is a team effort, and the whole style of eating contributes different things in different ways. Perhaps it cannot be reduced to a few ingredients, a great disappointment to those who are itching to practice nutritionism in its most profitable, and nutritionally ridiculous forms – pills or additives instead of food.

Philip Eaton, professor of cardiovascular biochemistry at King’s College London said, “The findings of our study help to explain why previous research has shown that a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular problems like stroke, heart failure and heart attack.”

I truly enjoy new ideas, but the Big Fat Surprise is one that is an old idea trying to disguise itself as new - Atkins I, Atkins II and now a Big Fat Surprise.  Replacing one way of eating badly with another way of eating badly is not a good idea, no matter how many times it is cleverly introduced. Advice to eat more meat, cheese and butter is now a very old idea; and it’s nonsense.