Margarine is toxic

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In the 1970s, I was instructed to swap from butter to margarine. Fortunately, I did not like the taste of margarine and, over the years, the more research I conducted on the topic the more I realised that we were being lead astray and even lied to about this. Today, when I ask any of my audiences, sometimes in the hundreds, “Who thinks margarine is better for you than butter?” I rarely get a positive response. It seems most people already know that margarine is a dangerous substitute.

It appears that there is no scientific evidence that margarine is healthier than butter. In fact, evidence suggests the exact opposite is true. This is summed up first of all in one of my earlier articles that showed saturated fat is not the demon it is made out to be and may even be associated with reduced heart attack (another myth shattered). At least that is what the biggest and best studies show. Furthermore, we consume many more Omega 6 (vegetable) oils today than our ancestors did and this is having a negative impact on our health. These oils are not just in our margarine but also hidden in most of our food. We ate margarine for 50 years thinking it was made up of so-called “good fats” only to find out it was laden with the deadliest form of fat: trans fats. Finally, there is emerging evidence that margarine may not be good for our health, with or without trans fats, and is nowhere near a natural food; the push to sell more margarine has come from organisations like the Heart Foundations around the world and branches of margarine companies with strong vested interests in promoting margarine sales.

I think one of the best things to have happened to the Australian cuisine is Master Chef. It has inspired a whole generation to go back to the kitchen and start cooking again. It has also encouraged the increased use of butter over vegetable oils, something the Heart Foundation and the margarine manufacturers did not like so they had to come up with campaigns to sway people back to margarine. Interestingly one of the foundation’s ploys was to create, through a public relations company, a group called “Mums United” which pretends to be a grassroots mothers campaign against evil butter. According to David Gillespe (Sweet Poison) and the “duck test” of inductive reasoning, “It walks like a margarine advertisement and quacks like a margarine advertisement, so guess what it I think it is?” And the margarine companies fund it! Some of the group’s tactics have included offering financial support to people who pledged not to eat butter. So much for it being a grassroots organisation. It seems that margarine interests have taken some of the old tactics taught to us by the tobacco industry and big drug companies.

I want to make it very clear that I have no vested interests in anything other than people’s health and the truth.

Various heart associations around the world recommend increasing Omega 6 (vegetable) oil consumption and reducing saturated fats, based on flawed studies that have been seriously questioned due to data manipulation. This includes the omission of relevant trials with unfavourable outcomes—that is, leaving out any negative studies ^1,2,3 and including studies that combine both Omega 3 (fish oils, which are good for you) and Omega 6 consumption together under the title of “polyunsaturated fats.” The associations even included poorly done studies as long as the studies showed the desired results. This type of publication bias is well known in the research literature particularly with big drug companies trying to show that their drugs work better than they really do.

Margarine is far from being a natural product—well, as much as you can claim that plastic is natural. The major components of margarine are “vegetable” oils, obtained from foods such as sunflower seeds, rapeseed, or potentially genetically modified canola and soya beans. These oils are usually extracted using the application of pressure, heat and possibly solvents and then treated with sodium hydroxide to “neutralise” certain fats in the oil. It is then bleached, filtered and steam-treated to produce what is essentially a colourless, flavourless murky looking liquid. The liquid is converted into a solid at room temperature through esterifcation, which uses high temperature and pressure, along with enzymes or acids, to harden the oil—this is also called hydrogenation. Hydrogenation produces trans fats that are strongly linked with heart disease, cancer and other chronic illnesses. The final product is coloured and flavoured with various agents to make it feel and look like butter. Then finally ingredients like plant sterols and stanols and alpha linolenic acid is added to make it appear healthy. The finished product is not natural or healthy.

Plant stanols and sterols are added to reduce cholesterol. However, overwhelming evidence now shows cholesterol is just a poor indicator of heart attack, not the cause ⁴. It is just the warning sign or, if I can use an analogy, like a fire alarm in your home, it is not the problem itself, but a warning about the problem. You can get plenty of stanol and sterols in nuts, beans and seeds, which are not only natural but also full of other healthful benefits including vitamins, antioxidants, minerals and so much more and reduce all forms chronic illness. Margarine manufacturers can trumpet the presence of “heart-healthy” Omega 3 fats on the label, however they are putting plant-based Omega 3 fats (alpha linolenic acid) that do not act like Omega 3 from fish sources. They still have to be converted in our body to fish-like Omega 3s. It is also questionable whether they will be oxidised or not and therefore of any value. Adding a nutrient to toxic food does not make it healthy. Do you really believe the advertising?

Margarine is a major source of trans fatty acids, the intake of which has risen since the early 20th century. Trans fatty acids are synthetic fats produced as a byproduct of the hydrogenation of liquid vegetable oils, making them into solid margarine. An abundance of data indicates that consumption of trans fatty acids increases the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), cancer, diabetes and other chronic illnesses. Margarine companies are now obliged to list the amount of trans fats on the side of the packet. Until recently however, margarine has been the single biggest source of these very toxic fats.

In a study of women, long-term margarine and trans fat consumption was associated with a 67% increased risk of heart disease ⁵. The decrease in intake of trans fatty acids in Denmark saw a 50% reduction in the number of deaths from ischemic heart disease ⁶. A recent study found that trans fatty acids promote cardiovascular disease by triggering inflammatory processes in the cells lining blood vessels ⁷. Increased intake of trans fatty acids has also been linked with an increase in the risk of colorectal tumours by about 86% ⁸. The potentially damaging effects of trans fats may also be passed from a mother to her child during breast feeding and can lead to an increase in cardiac insulin resistance when the kids become adults ⁹.

During the past 150 years, the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of agribusiness with processed foods, grain-fattened livestock, and hydrogenation of vegetable fats have considerably reduced the available content of Omega 3 fatty acids and increased that of Omega 6 fatty acids. While Omega 6 and 3 oils are considered essential fatty acids, the research is now showing that it is important to get the correct balance of the fats. An imbalance leads to various metabolic diseases. Western diets are now deficient in Omega 3 fatty acids and are laden with excessive amounts of Omega 6 fatty acids compared with the diet on which human beings evolved and their genetic patterns were established. Our diets now have 14 to 20 times more Omega 6 (vegetable oil) than Omega 3 fatty acids. This imbalance is now linked with diseases such as heart attack, stroke, cancer, obesity, insulin resistance, asthma, arthritis, depression, ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease and even premature ageing. The ideal balance is less than 4:1 or even 1:1 Omega 6 and 3, respectively.

Omega 6 oils such as corn, safflower, cottonseed, sunflower, and soya are now in nearly all our foods. Apart from the obvious consumption of vegetable oils and margarine you buy in the supermarket—which I hope you are now not going to buy—Omega 6 oils are hidden in most foods. You will find vegetable oils in just about every processed and semi-processed food including bread, cakes, and breakfast cereals and in lots of the plant-based drinks like almond or soya milk the main ingredient is often vegetable oil. All the takeaway foods, frozen and packaged dinners have Omega 6 oils. Even the “new” Mediterranean diet is laden with Omega 6 oils. When you buy olives, pesto sauce, sundried tomatoes or anything soaking in oil it is now vegetable oil in which it is soaked, not olive oil because vegetable oil is cheaper, unless you go to Italy where most foods are still soaked in olive oil. It is almost impossible to get away from the excess of Omega 6 oils. Time to read the labels! Factory produced eggs have 20 times more Omega 6 than Omega 3 compared to free-range eggs, which have a ratio of 1:1. Similarly, grain-fed beef (which I do not recommend you eat) has around 20:1 Omega 6 to Omega 3 oils because the cows are fed grains rich in Omega 6 oils. Alpha linolenic acid is found in the grass and is converted into the important Omega 3 oils by the animals. It is found only in grass-fed animals. Grass-fed cows are also a lot less stressed and have as a result lower levels of inflammation.

On the topic of animals fats, I have highlighted in earlier articles that despite claims by the Heart Foundation there is no scientific evidence to suggest that saturated fat through dairy consumption is associated with increased heart attack. By contrast, in a 16-year prospective study of 1,529 adult Australians, researchers found a possible beneficial association between intake of full-fat dairy and cardiovascular mortality ¹⁰. Whoops… the Heart Foundation got it wrong again.

By contrast, the Framingham study, which followed people for 20 years (a very long and comprehensive study) and recorded heart attack incidence, found margarine intake increased coronary heart disease in men ¹¹. The scientists in their very conservative language wrote, “These data offer modest support to the hypothesis that margarine intake increases the risk of coronary heart disease.” Not the opposite. In the second ten-year period of the study, the group eating the most margarine had 77% more heart attacks than the group eating none.

Studies that investigated increasing the amount of Omega 6 without a subsequent increase in animal-based Omega 3 (fish oil) consistently found an increase in coronary heart disease (CHD) and all-cause mortality. In an early study, published in 1965, researchers found that people consuming corn oil, a rich source of Omega 6, had a 4.64 times (over 400%) increased risk for both chronic heart disease and death from all causes ¹². In the conservative language of scientists, the authors of the study concluded that corn oil is “possibly harmful.” In another study, in which participants consumed more safflower oil and a safflower oil polyunsaturated margarine, participants had a 49% increased risk of death from all causes including a 91% increase from chronic heart disease and 96% from CVD ¹³.

In one study specifically on Omega 6 consumption in more than 9,000 people, the risk of non-fatal heart attack and death from coronary heart disease was significantly increased among women consuming the n-6 specific polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) diet for one year or less ¹⁴. Women consuming this n-6 specific PUFA diet for any duration had non-significant trends to increased risk of non-fatal heart attack and coronary heart disease and any cardiovascular event including death and stroke ¹⁴. In fact the Lyon Diet Heart Study found that after follow up of 27 months, non-fatal heart attack and coronary heart disease death and overall mortality were 73% and 70% lower in the experimental group who consumed lower Omega 6 oils and replaced vegetable oils with olive oil. This study also demonstrated that lowering linoleic acid (Omega 6 vegetable oil) below 50% is not harmful and may even be beneficial, producing a profound risk reduction in coronary heart disease.

A recent meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials investigating polyunsaturated Omega 6 oil consumption (vegetable oils and margarine) found that there is absolutely no scientific justification for recommending the increased consumption of Omega 6 oils ². Or, to quote their conclusion, “Advice to specifically increase n-6 PUFA intake … is unlikely to provide the intended benefits, and may actually increase the risks of CHD and death.” The study found for non-fatal myocardial infarction (heart attack) and death from coronary heart disease there was an increased risk of 13% for diets with increased Omega 6. The studies that substituted Omega 6 for saturated fatty acids without simultaneously increasing Omega 3 oils also produced an increase in risk of death. It seems the vegetable oils are just as bad as the trans fats and what we are really lacking are the Omega 3 fish oils.

More research shows that omega 6 fatty acids (vegetable oils-margarine) have no health benefit and in fact might be worse for you than saturated fats. This study showed people on the ‘heart-healthy’ diet were at increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and heart disease (increases of 70 and 74 per cent respectively).

"Advice to substitute polyunsaturated fats for saturated fats is a key component of worldwide dietary guidelines for coronary heart disease risk reduction. However, clinical benefits of the most abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid, omega 6 linoleic acid, have not been established. In this cohort, substituting dietary linoleic acid in place of saturated fats increased the rates of death from all causes, coronary heart disease, and cardiovascular disease. An updated meta-analysis of linoleic acid intervention trials showed no evidence of cardiovascular benefit."

The Heart Foundation continues to educate people to swap to margarine. Why do they continue to do this?
this information is so widespread it is dangerous. I recently spoke to and AFL footballer who was told not to have butter and to use margarine by the club dietician.

The study also found that lower cholesterol as a result of the omega 6 heart healthy diet was also associated with more deaths not fewer. Cholesterol is not the killer. It is just a symptom of an illness.

Arachidonic acid is produced in the body from too much Omega 6 and produces chemical messengers that lead to inflammation in the body called eicosanoids and cytokines. The increase in linoleic acid (Omega 6) has been shown to increase the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL cholesterol) ¹⁵. There is nothing wrong with cholesterol until it is oxidised. The evidence from animal studies also shows that a high linoleic acid diet can promote certain cancers ¹⁶ and other inflammatory diseases. In a study of 203,193 men and women, increased intakes of Omega 6 fatty acid (linoleic acid) doubled the risk of ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease, which has seen a rapid increase during recent decades. By contrast the highest intakes of Omega 3 were associated with 77% reduction in the risk of the disease ¹⁷. Omega 6 fatty acids are present in the cell membrane of colon cells in the form of arachidonic acid. This can be metabolised to chemical messengers in the body called prostaglandin E2, leukotriene B4 and thromboxane A2, all of which are associated with inflammation. On the other hand, Omega 3 fatty acids, including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) may prevent colonic inflammation.

There is also research showing that too much Omega 6 oil is contributing to premature ageing. Telomeres, which are in all our cells, are thought to be markers of our ageing because they reflect cumulative oxidative stress and inflammation. The shorter they are, the more we have aged. Because the metabolites of Omega 6 promote inflammation, it is believed that an increase in Omega 6 fatty acid content in our diet decreases the leukocyte telomere length ^18,19 and hence speeds up the ageing process.

It is time to rethink our fat consumption. The research shows that fat in itself is not bad—in fact, it is essential and the move away from fat has lead to a more obese and sicker population. What we need to do however is decrease our consumption of processed oils like margarine and vegetable oils and increase our Omega 3 fish oils along with Omega 9 oils, including olive oil.

References

1.     Ramsden 2009;

2.     Ramsden et al. 2010,

3.     Ramsden et al. 2011

4.     Dingle 2011 The Great Cholesterol Deception

5.     Willett et al. 1993

6.     Stender and Dyerberg 2004

7.     Harvey et al 2008

8.     Vinikoor et al. 2010

9.     Osso et al. 2008

10. Bonthuis et al. 2010

11. Gillman 1997

12. Rose et al. 1965

13. Woodhill et al. 1978

14. Frantz et al. 1989

15. Tsimikas et al. 1999

16. Welsh 1992

17. Hart 2008

18. Kang 2010;

19. Kiecolt-Glaser 2012

Saturated Fats are not so bad for us: Truth and Lies

We are, without a doubt, facing a nutritional crisis in Australia and the U.S. One manifestation is confusion as to what constitutes sound nutritional principles ^1,2. Recent scientific advances have not led to consensus, but rather to substantial disagreement among experts and further uncertainty for the public. The public are confused. One such area of uncertainty is that there really is no credible scientific evidence that saturated fat causes heart disease or, more generally, cardiovascular disease. Although we are constantly told that saturated fats are “bad” and that margarine is better than butter (which it is not), there is no evidence to support this “bad fat” myth.

Unfortunately there are many myths perpetuated by certain members of the food and drug industry as well as so-called reputable groups who have strong vested interests in margarine. For example the position paper by the Heart Foundation ³ states that:

· Saturated fatty acids (SFA) intake is associated with coronary heart disease (CHD); and

· Replacing SFA with omega-6 PUFA (vegetable oils) to achieve a ratio of PUFA to SFA of greater than 1 will reduce the risk of CHD.

The foundation also states, “Our position on dietary fats and dietary cholesterol was developed from a review of the latest scientific evidence and incorporates recommendations from our previous papers.” In truth, though, all of this is out of date and absolutely wrong. The first thing to note is that this evidence is based on research from1999 that has never been updated. All the research over the past decade and even more recent findings, including our own research below, has shown exactly the opposite of these claims. Most importantly if you look at our evolution it just does not make sense.

Despite half a century of rigorous research, dietary advice from governments and doctors alike, and public campaigns urging the reduction of dietary fat, cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death in developed countries ⁴. We have consistently heard that saturated fat increases the risk of cardiovascular disease while polyunsaturated fats like vegetable oils and margarine have a protective effect in reducing fat overall (in particular saturated fat) and, as such, are supposed to be good for our health. During the past 40 years the dietary instructions from governments and other authoritative bodies have told us to avoid all animal fats. Average fat consumption decreased, average blood cholesterol levels decreased but the rate of heart disease and the cost of its treatment continued to rise. Replacement of saturated fat by polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fat lowers both LDL and HDL cholesterol. However, overwhelming research shows that cholesterol is not the public enemy it has been made out to be, it is just a warning that you liver (and body) are under stress and you need to take some action to reduce that stress, not the warning signs.

By contrast, replacement of cholesterol with a higher carbohydrate intake, particularly refined carbohydrates, can exacerbate the build-up of plaque in the arteries (atherosclerosis) associated with insulin resistance and obesity that includes increased triglycerides, small LDL particles, and reduced HDL cholesterol. Dietary efforts to improve the increasing burden of CVD risk associated with atherosclerosis should primarily emphasize the limitation of refined carbohydrate intakes and a reduction in excess adiposity.

Unfortunately, poor studies and vested interests have led us astray. For example, some older broad based (ecological) studies found, through cross-examining per capita intake of saturated fatty acids and other dietary fat items, a correlation with the death rate from coronary heart disease ⁴. However, in some studies, equally as strong coefficients were found in the number of radio and TV licences, and almost equally as strong as the number of registered motor vehicles, suggesting the implausibility of ecological-based study conclusions ⁴. The evidence against saturated fat has at best always been circumstantial. That is, saturated fat was said to elevate blood cholesterol and elevated blood cholesterol was said to cause heart disease therefore saturated fat would cause heart disease. There never has been any direct evidence that cholesterol or saturated fat cause heart disease or even of a mechanism whereby heart disease would occur.

Bias very likely exists in the findings of the studies, with researchers choosing particular countries or data sets to indicate a preferred result ⁴. An example of this is the early work of Dr Ancel Keys, which launched this attack on saturated fat and, at the same time, introduced the cholesterol myth back in the 1960s. In the Seven Countries Study, Keys looked at Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, Netherlands, Finland, the United States and Japan reporting a strong straight-line relationship between saturated fat intake, heart disease and cholesterol levels ⁵. He chose to ignore 14 countries that had good data available. Choosing another seven countries—Finland, Israel, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France and Sweden—shows the exact opposite results and thus reveals the bias in the early studies ⁵.

When we review theses studies, we find no relationship with saturated fat and heart disease of any type. When we review updated data, this lack of relationship clear. The top seven consumers of saturated fats (France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Iceland, Finland, Austria and Germany), with saturated fat energy percentage ranging from 15.5% to 13.7 %, all have a lower death rate from CHD than the seven bottom consumers of saturated fats (Georgia, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Croatia, Armenia and Macedonia)—with saturated fat energy percentage ranging from 7.5% to 5.2%. Similarly, countries with the top five highest cardiovascular death rates (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation, Ukraine and Azerbaijan) are in the lowest 50% of saturated fat consumers. These facts appear to be the exact opposite of what we are told by governments and doctors.

The lowest death rate in the bottom seven consumers of saturated fats (Croatia) of 17 per 100, 000 is same as the highest death rate in the top seven consumers (United Kingdom and Ireland). This may also be confounded by socioeconomic differences with the more developed countries being closer to the top with better health care facilities and less poverty. As in the men, the highest consumer of saturated fat (France) also has the lowest death rate from cardiovascular disease with 4 per 100, 000 for women and 22 per 100,000 for men. For years this was called the French paradox and was an excuse to make up another myth that alcohol is good for you. The bottom five death rates (France, Switzerland, Iceland, Italy and Spain ) are all in the top 50% consumers of saturated fat. The top five highest death rates (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Moldova) are in the bottom 50% consumers of saturated fat. The death rates for coronary heart disease in women are also significantly less than for men in comparison of the two graphs, indicating a possible gender difference. This is not reflected in Australian data with both a higher prevalence (20% of women and 17% of males) and death percentage (37% for women 32% for men) of CVD existing in women ⁶.

Even the famous Framingham study, which originally hinted at a problem with saturated fats, now shows there is no association between dietary fat and heart disease and indeed the association of elevated cholesterol and heart disease is limited to a small segment of the study population ⁹. In the Framingham Heart Study, researchers working with a population-based cohort study, a total of 832 men, aged 45 through 65 years, found the risk of ischemic stroke declined with total fat, saturated fat and monounsaturated fat (e.g., olive oil) but not polyunsaturated fat such as margarine and vegetable oils ¹⁰. In effect, increased intakes of fat, saturated fat, and monounsaturated fat (olive oil) were associated with reduced risk of ischemic stroke in men. The exact opposite of what we have been told.

The evidence continues to mount that there’s no benefit and, in fact, probable harm from a low-fat diet. I cringe when I hear people talking about a low fat diet and laugh at all the marketing around low fat foods which are usually both full of sugars and low nutrient density carbohydrates. Two recent studies underscoring this finding are the Women’s Health Initiative and the Nurses’ Health Study. The Women’s Health Initiative studied 48,835 women and demonstrated no benefit from a low-fat diet in terms of heart disease or breast cancer ¹¹. The Nurses’ Health Study, which has followed 90,000 female health professionals, demonstrated no reduction in heart disease or cancer as a result of a low-fat diet ¹².

A meta-analysis of the research of 27 separate studies found that modification of dietary fat did not lead to a significant reduction in either deaths due to cardiovascular disease or overall risk of death ¹³. Ten years later, the same researchers examined another 21 studies and found exactly the same results ¹⁴. The researchers reported that pooled results of all the studies showed low-fat eating or replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fats had no benefit whatsoever and may even be harmful. Similarly, examination of the 33 data sets from prospective cohort studies in a meta-analysis found no plausible evidence for a consistent association between saturated fatty acid intake and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) ⁴. A separate analysis which examined 16 studies with CHD as the focus and eight studies with stroke as the focus, showed no association between dietary saturated fat intake and prevalence of disease ¹⁵.

The most recent definitive examination of all the competent studies on saturated fats and heart disease shows that over a five- to 23-year follow-up of 347,747 subjects, there is no association between the intake of saturated fat and heart disease or stroke. The meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or cardio vascular disease (CVD)  ¹⁶.

Even in animal trials, evidence shows positive effects of saturated fat. One study published in the American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology investigated heart functioning by evaluating gene expression profiles of rats fed high dietary fat after a heart attack ¹⁷. The research demonstrated that a high-fat diet improved overall cardiac mechanical function (the heart’s ability to pump)—that is, heart functioning was seen to improve on the high-fat diet.

The links between dietary fat, saturated fatty acids, serum cholesterol and cardiovascular disease are all part of the same “diet-heart hypothesis” with milk and dairy products—especially those with high fat content (butter, whole milk, cheese)—being publicly demonised due to saturated fats’ association with increased serum cholesterol ^4,15,19-21. This, despite the fact that numerous studies found that overall consumption of dairy products (typically high saturated fat content) was not associated with mortality ^21,22.

The cholesterol hypothesis separates cholesterol into two types for the sake of simplicity, low-density lipoproteins (LDL) or “bad cholesterol” and high-density lipoproteins (HDL) or “good cholesterol” ²³. Cholesterol has been so successfully publicly demonised that lowering cholesterol is earning pharmaceutical companies more than 20 billion dollars annually in the US with the sale of the top two statin drugs, Zocor (simvastatin) and Lipitor (atorvastatin), alone ²³. Despite this, supporters of the diet-heart hypothesis seem to have forgotten cholesterol’s essential and natural role in human biochemistry, with 80% of total body cholesterol being manufactured by the liver ²⁴. They also ignore the basic science studies demonstrating that blood fat profiles, the presumed cause for concern, is largely determined by consumption of carbohydrates, not fat consumption ^25,26.

In a recent review of dietary guidelines, researchers were scathing of the guidelines for critical weaknesses, including use of an incomplete body of relevant science; inaccurately representing, interpreting, or summarizing the literature; and drawing conclusions and/or making recommendations that do not reflect the limitations or controversies in the science. This is a mild way of saying scientific lying. The researchers also said that it “does not provide sufficient evidence to conclude that increases in whole grain and fibre and decreases in dietary saturated fat, salt and animal protein will lead to positive health outcomes” ²⁷. It seems that dietary guidelines around the world are lead by the money not the science.

This is all summed up in a major independent, international review by The Expert Consultation held jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in late 2008 which found no evidence that saturated fat causes heart disease. The WHO/FAO report states: “Intake of SFA [saturated fatty acids] was not significantly associated with CHD mortality…. SFA intake was not significantly associated CHD events [e.g., heart attacks]…. fatal CHD was not reduced by… low-fat diets.”

For the sake of our health, and the health of our parents and children, it’s time to change our thinking and start questioning what we are told about saturated fats and for that matter a lot of the information we are spoon fed.

References

1.     Boyle et al. 2008;

2.     Nestle 2007

3.     Heart Foundation (October 2012

4.     Parodi 2009

5.     Kendrick 2007

6.     Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2010

7.     Luzzi (1998

8.     European Heart Network (2008).

9.     http://www.framinghamheartstudy.org

10.  Gillman et al. 1997

11.  Howard et al. 2006

12.  http://www.channing.harvard.edu/nhs).

13.  Hooper et al. 2001

14.  Hooper et al. 2011

15.  Hu et al. 2010

16.  Siri-Tarino et al. 2010

17.  Berthiaume et al. 2010

18.  Hu et al. 2010;

19.  Bonthuis et al. 2010;

20.  Elwood et al. 2010;

21.  Gibson et al. 2009

22.  Bonthuis et al. 2010;

23.  Bowden 2010

24.  The Great Cholesterol Deception, 2011

25.  Volek et al. 2008;

26.  Forsythe et al. 2008

27.  Hite et al. 2010

 Acknowledgements Matthew Partridge

Cows milk causes Diabetes Type 1

Diabetes Type-1 used to be called juvenile onset diabetes as it was very rare to find it occurring in adults. Now it occurs across the whole spectrum of ages. The reason lies not in genetics but in our diet and environment. Don’t get me wrong, there is always a genetic component but this has not changed and cannot account for the different occurrence and increases in the disease over the past 30 years. The best scientific estimates suggest that only 5-10 percent of diabetes Type-1 can be linked to genetics.

It is thought that the onset of Type-1 is linked with an environmental insult, such as an allergen or a virus, and is an inflammatory response, called insulinitis, from an autoimmune reaction. While there are lots of thoughts about the viruses such as mumps, which set off the autoimmune response, the single most preventable cause is an allergic reaction to cows milk protein. It is the strongest link to the onset of this disease.

For example the consumption of pasteurised cows milk before three months of age increases the chances of getting diabetes Type-1 by 11 times. Even mothers who drink cows milk can pass on the protein allergen through breast feeding. But consumption at any age can be linked with the disease and there are well over one hundred very good scientific studies linking cows milk to the onset of Type-1.

One must then ask, why haven’t we told every one about this? And the answer is the large influence of the dairy industry. Most of the paediatric scientists know about it, but there is just too much pressure to drink milk and too much money involved.