Fats dogmatists embarrassed repeatedly by research

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Fats dogmatists embarrassed repeatedly by research

 

Body Electric

 

Numerous surveys of traditional populations have yielded information

that is an embarrassment to the Diet Dictocrats. For example, a study

comparing Jews when they lived in Yemen, whose diets contained fats

solely of animal origin, to Yemenite Jews living in Israel, whose diets

contained margarine and vegetable oils, revealed little heart disease or

diabetes in the former group but high levels of both diseases in the

latter. (The study also noted that the Yemenite Jews consumed no sugar

but those in Israel consumed sugar in amounts equaling 25-30 per cent of

total carbohydrate intake.)

 

A comparison of populations in northern and southern India revealed a

similar pattern. People in northern India consume 17 times more animal

fat but have an incidence of coronary heart disease seven times lower

than people in southern India.

 

The Masai and kindred tribes of Africa subsist largely on milk, blood

and beef. They are free from coronary heart disease and have excellent

blood cholesterol levels.

 

Eskimos eat liberally of animal fats from fish and marine animals. On

their native diet they are free of disease and exceptionally hardy.

 

An extensive study of diet and disease patterns in China found that the

region in which the populace consumes large amounts of whole milk had

half the rate of heart disease as several districts in which only small

amounts of animal products are consumed.

 

Several Mediterranean societies have low rates of heart disease even

though fat-- including highly saturated fat from lamb, sausage and goat

cheese-- comprises up to 70% of their caloric intake. The inhabitants of

Crete, for example, are remarkable for their good health and longevity.

 

A study of Puerto Ricans revealed that, although they consume large

amounts of animal fat, they have a very low incidence of colon and breast

cancer.

 

A study of the long-lived inhabitants of Soviet Georgia revealed that

those who eat the most fatty meat live the longest.

 

In Okinawa, where the average life span for women is 84 years-- longer

than in Japan --the inhabitants eat generous amounts of pork and seafood

and do all their cooking in lard.

 

None of these studies is mentioned by those urging restriction of

saturated fats. www.westonaprice.org/skinny.htm

 

Two Polynesian island groups were compared, one with their traditional

diet of highly saturated coconut fat, the other, a financially better off

group which had Europeanised and whose members ate far less coconut fats.

The latter group suffered from 25 per cent hypertension in the males

(high blood pressure) while those wallowing in coconut fat had only 10

per cent hypertension and no tendency to heart disease.

 

In India, Dr S L Balhotra, head doctor for the Indian National Railway

Systems, studied two different populations. There was a large vegetarian

group eating polyunsaturated peanut oil and margarine in the south. This

group had 15 times as many heart attack deaths as did the big butter

eaters in the north. And this despite the fact that vegetarians generally

fare better in heart disease statistics.

 

However, perhaps the most telling results came from the official

American attempts to prove that the Prudent Diet, the low cholesterol

diet, was the way to go. Dr Wayne Martin tells the story, in his own

inimitable style: " Since 1956 there has been in place in the orthodox

medical establishment the dogma, engraved in stone, that elevated

cholesterol in food and blood causes heart attacks. "

www.howlingatthemoon.com/docs/YHARxtr.htm

 

Researchers classify fatty acids not only according to their degree of

saturation but also by their length. Short-chain fatty acids have four to

six carbon atoms. These fats are always saturated. Four-carbon butyric

acid is found mostly in butterfat from cows, and six-carbon capric acid

is found mostly in butterfat from goats. These fatty acids have

antimicrobial properties --that is, they protect us from viruses, yeasts

and pathogenic bacteria in the gut. They do not need to be acted on by

the bile salts but are directly absorbed for quick energy. For this

reason, they are less likely to cause weight gain than olive oil or

commercial vegetable oils. Short-chain fatty acids also contribute to the

health of the immune system. Medium-chain fatty acids have eight to

twelve carbon atoms and are found mostly in butterfat and the tropical

oils. Like the short-chain fatty acids, these fats have antimicrobial

properties; are absorbed directly for quick energy; and contribute to the

health of the immune system.

http://www.westonaprice.org/know_your_fats/skinny.html

 

Are the dogmatists that stupid, or are they just trying to keep us

sick?