FAT IS NOT SO BAD: Finally…Some Validation!!!

A recent article in The Scientific American offers up even more evidence that saturated fats may not be the culprit linked to heart disease, rather, refined carbohydrates. YES! (This is me fist pumping) I have been preaching this for years, and finally some reprieve.

“Eat less saturated fat” has been the take home message from the US government for the last 30 years and we have listened. While Americans have dutifully reduced caloric intake from saturated fat since the 1970’s, the obesity rate has doubled, diabetes has tripled, and heart disease is still the country’s biggest killer.

It seems that we have implicated the wrong macronutrient this whole time (or, there was too much money to be made on promoting grains as “heart healthy”). In March the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a meta-analysis—which combines data from several studies—that compared the reported daily food intake of nearly 350,000 people against their risk of developing cardiovascular disease over a period of five to 23 years. The analysis found no association between the amount of saturated fat consumed and the risk of heart disease. More recent research indicates that not only is saturated fat NOT bad for you, but carbohydrates (bread, pasta, cookies, cakes) could actually be worse. In numerous studies, those that consumed the most carbohydrates weighed the most, had the highest risk for diabetes (47%) and were more likely to suffer from heart disease.

This is a major breakthrough as I see it in helping disseminate the popular belief that “whole grains are good for you”. I have first hand knowledge, both from personal and clinic practice that the elimination of refined grains is one of the “healthiest” things that someone can do for himself or herself. In addition, making sure to consume enough quality animal fat can help regulate hormonal imbalances and improve energy levels and actually reduce body fat.

“So the next time that bread and butter plops down at the table, consider for a moment that the butter may actually be the more healthful component.”

In Health,

Ben Brown, MS, CSCS

A “Prescription” for Obesity

With three new prescription weight-loss drugs looming for FDA approval, I thought it was necessary to add my two cents about the increasing use of pills to treat people who are overweight or obese.

According to an article published in USA Today, clinical studies suggest these medications – coupled with “cutting calories” and exercising – facilitated a weight loss of anywhere between  5 to 15% of initial bodyweight over the course of one year. Additionally, the studies indicate that there were improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar control as well.

The article suggests that by using these medications, doctors could “reduce health care costs by managing the root cause.”

I find it necessary to point out that being overweight or obese is FAR from the root cause of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, elevated triglycerides, poor blood sugar regulation, etc…. It, along with the previously named health conditions, is a SYMPTOM of an underlying hormonal imbalance.

There are several factors to consider when addressing why an individual is overweight or obese:

1. There is absolutely no scientific evidence for the belief that dietary fat is the driver of obesity.
2. Obesity is mostly a hormonal disorder, genetically influenced, in which insulin is a central player.
3. It’s not that people eat too much and don’t exercise because of some defect of will, or behavioral problem; it’s the behavior that is controlled by this hormonal imbalance.
4. Individuals are genetically predisposed to develop obesity if exposed to the kinds of foods that trigger these hormonal imbalances.

Excessive consumption of carbohydrates by a mother with a developing fetus will not only create blood sugar regulation issues in the mother, but it will genetically predispose the developing child to have a diminished ability to tolerate carbohydrate-rich foods. At the present, the level of carbohydrate consumption in the form of sugary drinks, snacks, highly processed grains, etc., are at an all time high and can potentially be seen as the cause of the epidemic of overweight and obese Americans.

The USA Today article suggests that multiple mechanisms are involved in the “biology of obesity” and that it may eventually be necessary for patients to take several medications to lose weight and keep it off.

The “biology of obesity” starts with the way we process the food that we take into our body, 3+ meals per day, 365 days per year. Prescription drugs are not aimed at addressing the “root cause,” but simply offer another allopathic way to treat the symptoms of a much more complex disorder. Until we recognize that real food cannot be manufactured in processing plants and have an extended shelf life, we are doomed to continue to promote a “this for that” health plan.