Diet and saturated fat: what to believe? ( copied from Abc ) If you have been following the recent debate over the relationship between saturated fat, cholesterol and heart disease, you might be wondering what makes a healthy diet. cholesterol_300x150iStockPhoto | AlexPro9500 For decades, doctors have told us saturated fat raises cholesterol which leads to heart disease. For almost as long, some sections of the community – including some medical professionals – have argued that cholesterol is not the villain its made out to be when it comes to your heart. The debate reached fever pitch recently after the publication of an editorial in the British Medical Journal, which stated the advice to reduce cholesterol has in fact increased our risk of heart disease. This was followed by a program on ABC TVs Catalyst examining whether the role of cholesterol in heart disease is one of the biggest myths in medical history. A second Catalyst program suggested evidence shows the majority of people taking medications to lower cholesterol – known as statins – will receive no benefit; a claim that has drawn strong criticism from many in the medical community, who say this is a dangerous message and fear people could die if they stop taking necessary medication. So does this mean we ignore the recommendations of doctors, health organisations and the Australian Dietary Guidelines and eat as much saturated fat as we want, so long as we avoid sugar and refined carbohydrates? Dr Rosemary Stanton is a nutritionist and author who was on the working committee for the latest version of the guidelines. She says we should all be following the guidelines, and there is extensive evidence doing this is likely to benefit your heart – and other aspects of your health. We asked her what the guidelines recommend in terms of saturated fat. What do they recommend on saturated fat? The 2013 Australian Dietary Guidelines encourage us to focus on the foods we eat rather than specific nutrients that might be in them. Saturated fats come in a wide range of foods, many of these are unhealthy processed foods but they are also present in some foods that can be valuable to include in our diet. Rather than focusing only on the fat content, aim to eat a range of foods from five food groups. These include: vegetables; fruit; grains (predominantly wholegrains); lean meat or poultry, fish or other seafood, legumes, tofu, nuts and seeds; milk, cheese or yoghurt, or plant alternatives (such as soy or rice beverages). To address diet-related health problems, including heart disease, diabetes and cancer, you should limit foods containing saturated fat, such as biscuits, cakes, pastries, pies, processed meats, commercial burgers, pizza, fried foods, potato chips, crisps and other savoury snacks. Many of these foods are also high in sugar or salt – and the guidelines have always recommended limiting both. The specific advice on fats also suggests replacing those foods high in saturated fat (butter, cream, cooking margarine, coconut and palm oils) with either liquid oils or spreads made from polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats (without trans fats), as well as nut butters and pastes, avocado, or nuts and seeds. Do you need to include any saturated fat? While theres no absolute requirement for saturated fat, it would be virtually impossible to choose an adequate diet with no saturated fat – and this has never been recommended. Only a diet of fruits and vegetables (with no avocado) would be totally free of saturated fat and it would be unlikely to meet nutrient needs. But it is important to pay attention to the types of foods you eat that contain saturated fat and dont consume too much of these. Foods contain a mixture of fatty acids, usually grouped as saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated (further divided into omega 6 and omega 3s). For simplicity, we tend to describe a food on the basis of its major fatty acid. For example: olive oil is called monounsaturated but has 75 per cent monounsaturated, 16 per cent saturated and 9 per cent polyunsaturated fatty acids. eggs are 50 per cent monounsaturated, 33 per cent saturated and 17 per cent is polyunsaturated. fish doesnt have much fat (even when its called oily), but fresh salmon has 32 per cent saturated, 34 per cent monounsaturated and 34 per cent polyunsaturated fat, while flathead has 40 per cent saturated, 25 per cent monounsaturated and 35 per cent polyunsaturated fat.....
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 13:51:40 +0000
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