Next time you have an extra hour on your hands, watch The Effects of Animal Fats on the Human Body by Dr. Michael Klaper. This lecture was recorded in 1993, however don’t let that fool you. Dr. Klaper could change the way you eat forever!
You brat eating Wisconsin Cheeseheads should have your cholesterol checked anyway.
We’ve spent billions of our tax dollars trying to prove the diet-heart hypothesis. Yet study after study has failed to provide definitive evidence that saturated-fat intake leads to heart disease - from the article What if Bad Fat Isn’t So Bad?
Cut your saturated fat and reduce your heart attack risk. This is the advice we’ve been following for a couple of decades. Now some researchers are giving the saturated fat-heart disease link another look.
This article by Nina Teicholz on msnbc.com is a well-written summary of the questions surrounding evidence that a diet high in saturated fat alone contributes to heart disease.
If it’s not saturated fat causing all of this heart disease, then what is it? You have to read the very last paragraph of Nina’s article to find a proposed answer to that question.
If you consistently consume more calories than you burn, and you gain weight, your risk of heart disease will increase — whether you favor eating saturated fats, carbs, or both.
Finally, check out this latest study published in the respected American J of Clinical Nutrition in Jan of this year. Researchers pooled the results from 21 studies involving more than 347,000 subjects and found “that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD. More data are needed to elucidate whether CVD risks are likely to be influenced by the specific nutrients used to replace saturated fat.
Holy cow!
No study, these critics say, has ever proved a causal relationship between moderate drinking and lower risk of death — only that the two often go together. It may be that moderate drinking is just something healthy people tend to do, not something that makes people healthy. -NY Times
MY COMMENT: This is one health claim that will be very difficult to prove despite mounds of evidence linking moderate alcohol consumption to reduced risk.
Total Cholesterol Normal Values: (mg/dl)
< 19 years of age....< 170
> 19 years of age…..<200
Triglycerides (mg/dl
< 150..........normal
150 - 199.....borderline-high
200 - 499.....high
> 500………..very high
HDL (mg/dl) Higher HDL lowers risk of heart disease
< 40 high risk
> 60 low risk
LDL (mg/dl) Higher LDL increases risk of heart disease
< 100...............optimal
100 - 129..........near optimal
130 - 159..........borderline high
160 - 189..........high
> 190………………..very high
Total Cholesterol/HDL Ratio Risk Classification…………Male………. Female
1/2 Average Risk………………………………………………………….. < 3.4........ < 3.3
Average Risk...................................................... 3.4 - 5.0...... 3.3 - 4.4
2 Times Average Risk........................................... 5.1 - 9.6...... 4.5 - 7.1
3 Times Average Risk ...........................................9.7-23.0...... 7.2 - 11.0
Keep in mind that presence of other cardiac risk factors increase risk even further (smoking, high blood pressure, family history, age, diabetes, obesity). See the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for risk stratification and treatment guidelines.
“The existing data, by numerous studies, are starting to show that the rates of heart disease and diabetes and obesity are doubled or sometimes even tripled in people who sit a lot,” Dr. Hamilton explains. One reason, he says, is an enzyme called lipase. When it’s on, fat is absorbed into the muscles, but when we sit down, lipase virtually shuts off.
Another benefit to standing — it improves your HDL or good cholesterol levels. People who sat reduced their good cholesterol levels by 22 percent!
My Comment: Not only should you stand whenever you can throughout the day, but make it a rule to walk extra distance whenever the opportunity presents.
“Our study have shown that weight loss of as little as 6.5 percent in individuals with the disease results in substantial reductions in blood pressure, glucose, triglycerides and total cholesterol, all factors that lead to heart disease,” (6.5% of 200 lbs. is 13 lbs.) -medicalnewstoday
MY COMMENT: Exercise is good medicine. Too many Americans rely on prescription medications to manage health problems ignoring regular exercise and weight loss.
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