Saturated fats are the type of macronutrients that get the worst reputation. What the researchers found, shockingly, is that saturated fat in macronutrients has an inverse relationship to the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. The higher the diet contained saturated fat, the higher the decrease in risk for stroke, which flies in the face of all that traditional medicine has assumed up until this point. DR. CHAD LARSON
In episode 48 of his Keep It Real video series, Dr. Larson discusses how high fat diets may lead to a longer life.
The pendulum in nutritional recommendations continues to swing from one to the next. Nutritional recommendations should be made based purely on research, but up until recently, not much research was available.
A recent study published in the Lancet Journal, a highly respected publication out of the UK, might just signal that old recommendations are not only incorrect, but they might also be unhealthy. Researchers looked at 105 thousand participants in over 18 countries and across five continents. They set out to study the rates of death according to the percentages of macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats and proteins). What they found was that higher carbohydrate consumption led to an increased risk factor for all-cause mortality. Not only did they find that high-fat diets lead to a decreased risk factor for all-cause mortality, but the researchers also found that a high-fat diet did not increase risk factors for all-cause mortality. All-cause mortality is death by all factors.
Death by cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in the US as well as other Western and European countries who have developed similar dietary habits that are high in carbohydrates. Although fat has gotten a bad reputation, what the researchers found, was that there was a decrease in risk factors for all-mortalities for those who consumed a high-fat diet.
Saturated fats are the type of macronutrients that get the worst reputation. What the researchers found, shockingly, is that saturated fat in macronutrients has an inverse relationship to the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. The higher the diet contained saturated fat, the higher the decrease in risk for stroke, which flies in the face of all that traditional medicine has assumed up until this point.
If you look at the FDA food pyramid guideline, what you will see is that at the bottom of the pyramid, where we are supposed to consume most of the macronutrients we eat, are carbohydrates. So, if you base your eating according to the guidelines of the FDA, you are going to be on the fast track to mortality. In 2010, there was a nutritionist who went on a “Twinkie diet” to prove that carbohydrates are the key to losing weight. He limited what he ate to three meals which consisted of Twinkies a bit of vegetable, a portion of protein, and a multivitamin. Over the course of his study, he lost 27 pounds and concluded that limiting your intake of fat and increasing carbohydrates makes you “healthier”.
Source: USDA
Unfortunately, fitness and health are not synonymous, although talked about interchangeably. Just because you are fit, that does not necessarily mean that you are healthy. The higher the carbohydrates, the higher the glucose, the more the insulin your body produces. What clinicians do know is that the more that insulin and glucose your body produces, the greater the amount of inflammation in the body, and if you’ve been following my blogs and videos, you already know Inflammation is the cause of almost all chronic illnesses.
Just because you go on a diet and lose weight, that does not mean that you are healthier. The higher the carbohydrate intake, the greater you have to reduce your caloric intake to lose weight. The theory of calories in versus calories out as the key to good health isn’t complete. When you up your intake of carbohydrates, you need to drop a number of macronutrients you need for your body to lose weight, which means that you aren’t getting the macronutrients that you need for good health. When you restrict your calories dramatically, your body will go through the glucose and insulin swing, which will increase your risk for chronic disease. To summarize, the higher the carbohydrate diet; the greater your risk for all-cause mortality.
The higher the saturated fat diet, the lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. The higher the fat diet, the lower the risk of all-cause mortality, so basically, what I’m saying is to eat more (healthy) fats.
