Examples of healthy dietary fat

It’s here, the beginning of my deep dive into the macronutrients: fat, carbohydrates, and protein!  I’m excited to explore each food group in detail with you, but we’re starting with my favorite category, dietary fat.

So is dietary fat healthy? Unsurprisingly, it has the worst reputation of all the macronutrients.  It is misunderstood, underappreciated, and unnecessarily vilified.  A lot of food is considered healthy because of the labels “fat-free” and “low-fat.” It is one of the most pervasive dietary fads despite being disproved by research.  Fats are necessary for hormonal balance, satiety, cellular processes, and brain health! They also help us absorb vital nutrients.  So, where did this decades long tradition of blaming fat for health issues such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes originate?  To answer that, we have to travel back in time.

Where It Started

In the 1950’s heart disease became the new public health crisis, and the leading cause of death in the United States.  Enter Ancel Keys, best known for his creation of the K ration during WWII.  He was responsible for demystifying the sudden rise of heart disease. He landed on dietary fat as the culprit.  Unfortunately his theory, unfounded in actual science, became the gold standard. 

Some scientists attempted to draw national attention away from Keys’ flawed hypothesis. But, an article in the trusted New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) made it difficult.  The article backed Keys by also blaming fat.  This is where it gets interesting.  Usually research studies disclose funding sources because audiences deserve to know if any conflicts of interest exist.  However this was overlooked and a trade group, the Sugar Research Foundation, secretly paid the NEJM scientists to continue blaming fat and ignore startling evidence implicating sugar. 

How It Continued

To make a long story short, Keys eventually published another study using the same flawed research techniques.  But, this paper focused more specifically on saturated fat. This gained the attention of the American Heart Association (AHA).  Again, a trusted organization wrongfully supported poor research for financial gain. In this case the AHA received money from the powerful company, Procter & Gamble. Unfortunately, P&G produced highly processed (and unhealthy) polyunsaturated vegetable oils found in most packaged foods. So of course they wanted the blame to fall on saturated fat (another conflict of interest).

One of my favorite authors, Max Lugavere, says it best in his book, Genius Foods:

Americans became the target of manufacturers seizing the opportunity to churn out ‘healthy’ low-fat, high-sugar foods and polyunsaturated fat-based spreads (‘cholesterol-free!’).  Chemical- and heat-extracted oils like canola and corn oil were promoted to health food status, while naturally occurring fats from whole foods – even avocados – were shunned.  Between industry shortcuts, scientific hubris, and governmental ineptitude, we took real, natural foods and warped them into a chemical minefield of ‘nutrients.’

The AHA’s mission is to “build healthier lives free of cardiovascular disease and stroke.” Yet it based policy-changing recommendations on cherry-picked and outdated studies.  Unsurprising if you know a few tidbits:

  • Big Pharma companies that make cholesterol pills funded a member on the Presidential Advisory writing panel’s studies
  • Another member was previously funded by the Canola Oil Council. 

That is why I recommend consulting unbiased research when dietary recommendations make the headlines.  It is also important to listen to your gut.  On the most basic level, it makes sense to think that naturally occurring fats (nuts, avocados, olive oil) are healthier than chemically processed alternatives.

The Fallout

Thanks to poorly designed research and the backing of large (and trusted) organizations, whole food sources of fat became feared and replaced by carbohydrates (mostly refined sugar), and chemically processed oils.  That’s why reducing fat grams does not lead to smaller waistlines and happy hearts.  Low-fat and fat-free diets tend to increase triglycerides and decrease “good” HDL cholesterol.  This ironically puts you at a higher risk for heart disease.  

I hope this was helpful!  Next, check out my post all about the different types of dietary fat – the good, the bad, and the complicated.