Page 58 - Summer2009

Know Your Fats

MORE SATURATED FAT ATTACKS
By Mary G. Enig, PhD

Butter consumption has been rising over foods made with commercially processed fats.
the last few years—not by leaps and bounds, but The suggestion is a judicious amount (about
steadily upward—both in the U.S. and in Europe. 1 tablespoon per meal) of naturally occurring
This shift in consumption patterns may explain a fats. Think of butter, cheese, chicken or duck fat,
resurgence of anti-saturated fat messages in the even well-marbled steaks, as a taste-enhancing
U.S. and overseas. complement to a meal.” Five years ago, no major
Britain launched a “health” campaign in newspaper would have published anything along
February of 2009 to “raise awareness of the the lines of this common-sense advice. Boomer’s
health risks of eating too much saturated fat,” article is a sign that the walls of the lowfat dun-
and lamenting the fact that “the UK is currently geon are crumbling.
eating 20% more saturated fat than UK Govern- Thus, in the U.S., the anti-saturated fat cam-
ment recommendations.” paign has become more subtle, consisting not of
In the The highly coordinated campaign includes a EODWDQW SURSDJDQGD²WKH NLQG RI ¿QJHU ZDJJLQJ
U.S., the VHFRQG 79 DGYHUWLVHPHQW LQ ZKLFK D ³MXJ RI food Puritanism that is increasingly turning us

anti-saturated saturated fat is poured down the sink, overload- RII²EXW RI VSLQ GRFWRUHG UHSRUWV RQ VFLHQWL¿F
ing and blocking a kitchen pipe to vividly bring studies.
fat campaign to life the message that too much saturated fat is
has become bad for your heart.” Print ads encourage Britons SATURATED FAT AND THE LIVER
more subtle, to cut the fat off their meat, switch to lower-fat One example is a study entitled “Saturated
dairy products and use vegetable oils instead of Fatty Acids Promote Endoplasmic Reticulum
consisting not butter when cooking. Stress and Liver Injury in Rats with Hepatic
of blatant In New Zealand, newspaper articles have Steatosis,” published in Endocrinology (2006
propaganda urged the population to eat less bacon and sau-
In this study, markers for liver function
sage, avoid butter and pastries containing butter,
—the kind and take children off of full-fat milk after the age worsened in rats on a diet high in sucrose (68
of finger of two “to avoid clogging their arteries.” percent sucrose, 12 percent corn oil and 20
wagging food IN THE U.S. SHUFHQW FDVHLQ RU KLJK LQ ODUG RLO SHUFHQW
ODUG RLO SHUFHQW FRUQ VWDUFK DQG SHUFHQW
Puritanism As Americans are increasingly turning again casein) compared to a high starch diet (68 percent
that to real food, newspaper articles have appeared corn starch, 12 percent corn oil and 20 percent

is increaingly praising the virtues of real butter, fatty meats FDVHLQ RU D KLJK SRO\XQVDWXUDWHG GLHW SHUFHQW
and lard. A breakthrough was an article entitled FRUQ VWDUFK SHUFHQW FRUQ RLO DQG SHUFHQW
turning us “Dieting? Don’t fear the fat,” by Allison Boomer, casein). The lard oil diet was described as high in
off—but of published in the Boston Globe (January 7, 2009). saturated fat, hence the title of the study, which
spin-doctored Noting that fats provide satiety she writes, “You ¿QJHUV VDWXUDWHG IDWW\ DFLGV 7KH WLWOH FRQWDLQV
PLJKW IHHO TXLWH VDWLV¿HG IRU LQVWDQFH LI \RX no mention of the similar adverse effects from
reports on crumble two slices of crisp bacon and one ounce the high sucrose diet; but even worse is the char-
scientific of cheese on your salad or eat that delectable acterization of lard oil as high in saturated fat.
studies. golden skin on your broiled chicken. No one is 7KH GH¿QLWLRQ RI ODUG RLO LV ³RLO FRQVLVWLQJ FKLHÀ\
advising you to eat mountains of fries or other of olein that is expressed from lard.” Olein is a
56 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2009