Why it still makes sense to limit saturated fat

Aafter repeated delays, United States Department of Health and Human Services published new dietary guidelines on January 7, which for the first time prioritize certain sources of saturated fat. “We are ending the war on saturated fat,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared in one press conference. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary lamented that for decades there has been a “myopic focus on demonizing natural, healthy saturated fats.”

While the new guidelines say that in general, “saturated fat consumption should not exceed 10% of total daily calories,” the document’s new food pyramid includes red meat, cheese and whole milk at or near the top. The instructions also advise Americans to cook with oil paintings to use those “with essential fatty acids,” while offering butter and beef fat as additional options. Christopher Gardner, a professor at Stanford University and a member of the most recent guideline advisory committee, he said NPR that he’s “very disappointed with the new pyramid that has red meat and sources of saturated fat at the top, as if that’s something to prioritize.” It goes against decades and decades of evidence and research.”

These are significant changes. For more than 45 years, the guidelines have warned against overconsumption of saturated fat. And while nutritional research is notorious for producing conflicting findings about the risks and benefits of a range of foods—including fats—this particular axis has many experts concerned. That’s partly because the health risks associated with higher consumption of saturated fat are well-documented, and partly because the new guidance could inadvertently create a situation in which foods like red meat end up replacing healthier fiber-rich options.

The instructions are a cornerstone of federal food and nutrition guidance, updated every five years to reflect changes in science. National dietary guidance has historically been quite important. Health care providers and dietitians refer to them when counseling patients. The instructions too influence federal nutrition policy and programs and update school lunch menus.

Concerns about dietary fat intake can be broadly traced back to at least the 1940s, when studies showed an association between high-fat diets and high cholesterol levels, suggesting that a low-fat diet could help protect against heart disease in high-risk patients. By the 1960s, a low-fat diet emerged as something that could be adopted not only by high-risk heart patients, but by others as well. Congress convened a hearing in the late 1970s in which experts weighed in on the harms of overeating fat.

The national dietary guidelines were first published by the administration of President Jimmy Carter in 1980. The document highlighted the limitation overconsumption saturated fat and other unspecified fat, cholesterol, sugar and sodium. Saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium were considered risk factors for the development of cardiovascular problems.

The 1980 guidance consulted Americans to avoid highly saturated fat. Then, the 1990 update introduced a numerical threshold of 10 percent. Ironically, as the low-fat approach gained traction, Americans have become fatter. And the percentage of diabetes soared.

A PBS front line discussion since 2004 illuminates some of the paradoxes and unintended consequences of promoting a low-fat diet. The 1980 guidance suggested that when limiting fat intake, people should increase calories from carbohydrates, with an emphasis on whole grains, fruits and vegetables. But the Frontline episode noted that as caloric intake from fat decreased, total calories increased. Interviewee Marion Nestle, renowned nutritionist, emphasized that total calories matter, which maintains today, along with the warning that replacing unsaturated fat with saturated fat increases the risk of higher blood cholesterol and heart disease.

As it turned out, and as many now know, not all fats are bad. While the American Heart Association he says that less than 6 percent of a person’s total daily calories should come from saturated fat, encourages replacing saturated with unsaturated fats. These can restrict low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (sometimes known as “bad” cholesterol) and inflammation, while providing nutrients the body needs for cell growth and maintenance. Good choices include sunflower and flaxseeds, many cooking oils, a variety of nuts, avocados and oily fish, among others.

An article in Tufts University’s Health & Nutrition Letter notes that Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the school’s Food is Medicine Institute, quotes “Evidence that a higher proportion of calories from fat is not harmful to either cardiovascular disease (CVD) or obesity and may actually reduce risk if healthy (poly- and mono-unsaturated) fats replace refined starches and sugars.”

Where’s the new one set of nationals dietary guidelines still recommend that saturated fat make up less than 10 percent of a person’s calories per day, the limit does not are seen in the square by promoting red meat, butter, whole milk and beef tallow — which have long been criticized for being high in saturated fat. With a 2,000-calorie diet, the limit would mean no more than 200 calories from saturated fat, or about 22 grams. Eating three servings of full-fat dairy and one serving of red meat a day, for example, could be just under the target, leaving little room for other foods.

While the science on unsaturated fat has evolvedit does not have the same degree of saturated fat. Even shades reviews Saturated fats indicate harm for people with cardiovascular risk factors.

In an email to Undark, Ronald Krauss, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, wrote that there is “no evidence at all” to suggest benefits from increasing saturated fat consumption. He warned that “very high consumption could put some (perhaps many) people at risk for heart disease.”

It is true, however, that scientists debate the extent to which all foods containing saturated fat are harmful. Full fat dairy products may be less harmful from red and processed meat, for example. Like Kennedy, Mozaffarian supports consumption of saturated fat in the form of full-fat dairy products, based on evidence suggesting beneficial health effects. Other experts conflict this though. “We don’t have good evidence that low-fat milk is better than whole milk for controlling body weight or obesity risk,” Walter Willett of Harvard University told STAT. “However, compared to plant sources of fat, high dairy fat intake increases the risk of cardiovascular disease,” among other issues.

But there’s an additional concern: If the guidelines promote more sources of saturated fat, “people will eat more red meat and bacon and less lentils and salads,” Gardner wrote in an email to Undark. This could end up raising a person’s bad cholesterol levels while reducing the many physiological benefits of fiber.

“The research literature supports replacing any of the three major food sources of saturated fat (meat, dairy, tropical oils) with plant foods including legumes (beans/peas/lentils), whole grains, vegetables, and vegetable oils for cardiovascular health benefits,” he wrote. The advisory committee he was on I establish The heart benefits from alternating meat with other protein sources with little or no saturated fat.

Tthe new guidelines they also warn of the dangers of highly processed foods. This is in line with the Make America Healthy Again Commission reportreleased in May, which describes the dangers of “industrially prepared food products that undergo multiple stages of physical and chemical processing and contain ingredients not commonly found in home kitchens.” (This would be a more proactive approach than that of the advisory committee, which staked about including advice on highly processed foods because he said there is no clear definition of UPF, adding that more study is needed.) Interestingly, the scientific foundations The guidelines suggest that reducing intake of “highly processed foods” could help meet the goal of staying below 10 percent of the total calorie limit for saturated fat.

It probably exists value to discourage consumption of UPF: Although not all highly processed foods equally unhealthythere is a pop-up unanimity to their adverse effects. The researchers published a systematic review in the BMJ of dozens of meta-analyses from 2009 to 2023 that suggested negative health outcomes associated with consumption of ultra-processed products. In addition, an article published Recently in Nature he highlighted a randomized controlled trial showing harmful effects on metabolic and reproductive health.

However, Gardner cautioned against replacing hyper-processed foods with increased consumption of saturated fat, which also has documented harm if consumed in excess.

Of course the human body needs it some saturated fatlike them box they boost energy, support hormone production and help the body absorb certain fat-soluble vitamins. The important thing is to keep the total intake low and to consume more unsaturated fats than saturated fats, he says Alice Lichtenstein, professor of food science and policy at Tufts University and member of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. The key is the relative amount of each fat we consume, he added.

This article was originally published on Undark. Read it original article.

Previously Posted at undark.org

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