THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION TAKES ON DIETARY FAT ONE MORE TIME THIS TIME: WARNING ABOUT THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF COCONUT OIL
“Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading global cause of death, accounting for 17.3 million deaths per year, comprising 31.5% of total global deaths in 2013. Since 1961, the American Heart Association (AHA) has recommended reduction in dietary saturated fat to reduce the risk of CVD. Randomized clinical trials showed that polyunsaturated fat from vegetable oils replacing saturated fats from dairy and meat lowers CVD.
Evidence has accumulated during the past several years that strengthens long-standing AHA recommendations to replace saturated fat with polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat to lower the incidence of CVD.” Cherry-picked from the 25 page Presidential Advisory found in last week’s issue of Circulation — the journal of the American Heart Association (Dietary Fats and Cardiovascular Disease: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart Association)
Back when I was a little kid growing up in the Vietnam War era, there was a folk song whose chorus went, “When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?” It’s kind of how I feel about the debate that’s been going on between the forces decrying dietary fat (particularly the saturated type — fats that are solid at room temperature) and the forces decrying dietary sugar / junk carbohydrates.
Although it was the famed cardiologist, Robert Atkins who brought this battle against ANCEL KEYS‘ misguided research to the American public back in 1971, there have been increasing numbers following Atkins’ lead. For instance, as I was getting ready to write a post about the American Heart Association’s (AHA’s) latest guideline debacle when I saw that renowned medical reporter, Gary Taubes, had done it for me.
Writing for MedPage Today, Taubes put together a piece for their “Cardio Brief” section called Vegetable Oils, (Francis) Bacon, Bing Crosby, and the AHA. The very first thing Taubes did was to accuse the AHA of not following the scientific methodology Sir Francis Bacon gave us back in the late 1500’s and early 1600’s. We shouldn’t be surprised.
It’s one more proof that EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE can be used to ‘prove’ whatever you want it to, just as long as you set up the studies using questionable methodologies (HERE), don’t publish any research that fails to prove what you were trying to prove in the first place (HERE), or easier yet, simply buy off the researchers (HERE). Taube’s op-ed piece can be summed up in one short paragraph.
“The new Presidential Advisory, written by a dozen esteemed experts led by Harvard’s Frank Sacks, may be the most egregious example of Bing Crosby epidemiology that I’ve ever seen. Whether consciously or unconsciously, they assume that what they think is true surely is, and then they methodically eliminate the negative and accentuate the positive until they can make the case that they are surely, clearly and unequivocally right.”
If you’ve followed my site for any length of time, you’ve learned a few things in regards to this debate. I’ve shown you the incredible research by DR. OTTO WARBURG on the relationship between dietary carbs / sugar and cancer (he won the Nobel Prize for medicine back in 1931). I’ve shown you HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE that the war on dietary fat continues unabated even though the powers-that-be should know better by now. I’ve also shown you how dietary fat and dietary carbs affect your endocrine system in radically different fashion (HERE and HERE).
Despite all of this, we once again have some of the biggest names in cardiology not only decrying coconut oil (it’s a saturated fat), but extolling the virtues of those old standbys — SOY OIL, CORN OIL, canola oil, etc, etc, etc (BTW, the diet recommended by the AHA is DASH). And how, pray tell, in the year of our Lord, 2017, can we possibly make a case for this — particularly in light of what we know about the necessity of dietary fat on brain and neurological function, as well as the myriad of potential benefits of KETOGENIC DIETS? It was rather easy.
To create this “Advisory,” (it’s basically a set of MEDICAL GUIDELINES) the AHA threw out mountains of research they did not agree with (including reviews by COCHRANE), essentially basing their current recommendations on four studies — from (gulp) the 1960’s.
Don’t get me wrong — I loved the 60’s. What little I can remember of it. No, I was not stumbling through the decade stoned. I was born in 1967 and turned 50 earlier this year (HERE), and have been sold on the LOW CARB approach for well over two decades, usually promoting the PALEO DIET or similar for my patients who are chronically sick, chronically overweight, and / or dealing with chronic pain (HERE).
In fact, for those of you wanting to understand a little bit more about fat metabolism in relation to this way of eating, it’s your lucky day because I have a short post on that subject I’ve included for you (HERE). In the meantime, just realize that WHOLE FOODS are where it’s at. Also realize that in many (MANY) cases, the “evidence” coming from the biomedical research community cannot be trusted. My brother, an MD, recently gave our readers a great example of this concerning flu shots — HERE.
And we wonder why people don’t trust their doctors like they used to?
“If the medical profession wishes to know why they are no longer trusted, they need look no further than the proclamations of the American Medical Association, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association and any of a number of 3 and 4 letter acronyms that purport to represent the thinking of the medical establishment. They have all been taken over by monied interest; to see which ones, look a the supporting donors of the group. Coke and Pepsi funding the American Diabetes Association for example.” Jerry Seegers commenting on the MedPage article.
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