Saturated Fats & Cholesterol Not a Real Health Threat?

Excerpted from

Cholesterol and Heart Disease: A Phony Issue

by Mary Enig, PhD

Weston A Price Foundation

The official advice to lower serum cholesterol levels has brought about numerous supplements with the attached claim that consuming them will lower cholesterol. This further supports the myth of cholesterol as an undesirable component of body and diet. In fact, the body uses cholesterol to repair and to protect. When improvement to the health of the body brought about by good changes in lifestyle or diet results in a lowering of serum cholesterol, it can be counted as an example of the body no longer needing the extra circulating cholesterol. The repair has been accomplished.

A month after the exposé in Science, the NHLBI responded by lowering its recommended “at risk” cholesterol level and increasing the number of people it wants to put on cholesterol lowering drugs. But there may be hope that the truth will win. Independent thoughtful researchers have continued to point out that there is a real need for correcting the wrong advice given to the public regarding the consumption of dietary fats. New research continues to show that the saturated fats are not a problem, that the trans fatty acids found in partially hydrogenated vegetable fats and oils really are a problem, and that the lack of appropriate balance in the diet of the polyunsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids is also a problem. Even the mono-unsaturates have been taken to task by some of the recent research. And lowfat diets are being shown to be counterproductive.

The lesson to be learned from all of this is that the old-fashioned, more saturated fats form the healthy basis of a good quality diet. And a good quality diet can help to produce a state of vibrant good health. Meanwhile, there is no need to worry about your cholesterol levels. This is a phony issue.

About the Author

Mary G. Enig, PhD is an expert of international renown in the field of lipid biochemistry. She has headed a number of studies on the content and effects of trans fatty acids in America and Israel, and has successfully challenged government assertions that dietary animal fat causes cancer and heart disease. Recent scientific and media attention on the possible adverse health effects of trans fatty acids has brought increased attention to her work. She is a licensed nutritionist, certified by the Certification Board for Nutrition Specialists, a qualified expert witness, nutrition consultant to individuals, industry and state and federal governments, contributing editor to a number of scientific publications, Fellow of the American College of Nutrition and President of the Maryland Nutritionists Association. She is the author of over 60 technical papers and presentations, as well as a popular lecturer. Dr. Enig is currently working on the exploratory development of an adjunct therapy for AIDS using complete medium chain saturated fatty acids from whole foods. She is Vice-President of the Weston A Price Foundation and Scientific Editor of Wise Traditions as well as the author of Know Your Fats: The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils, and Cholesterol, Bethesda Press, May 2000. She is the mother of three healthy children brought up on whole foods including butter, cream, eggs and meat.

References

1. Gary Taubes, “The Soft Science of Dietary Fat,” Science, March 30, 2001.
2. Mary Enig, PhD and Sally Fallon, “The Oiling of America.”
3. Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD, The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy that Cholesterol and Saturated Fat Cause Heart Disease, NewTrends Publishing, Washington, DC, 2000. More info online at: www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm.