HEALTH - Saturated Fat NOT Bad, Really?!

CAUTION - This does NOT mean you can pig-out on all the buggers you want.  Also, we are to trust the opinion of a Chef/Restauranteur on health matters?

Also, at the start Mr. Armstrong's is perpetuating a misconception about science research findings.  They have never blankly said that saturated fats and other foods are bad for you, they say that OVER CONSUMPTION of these foods are bad for you.  And today too much of the foods we consume already have more 'bad' things than we should have.  Armstrong does correct his initial comments on this later in the interview.

"New research challenges old wisdom on saturated fat" PBS NewsHour 3/18/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  People have been warned for years about the dangers of eating too many saturated fats and the risks they pose for heart disease.

But a new analysis of more than 70 studies finds that saturated fats do not necessarily lead to greater problems with heart health.  The research, published in “The Annals of Internal Medicine,” also found no real benefit from taking omega-3 fatty acid supplements, like fish oil.

Cathal Armstrong is a chef and co-owner of the restaurant Eve in Alexandria, Virginia.  He’s long been focused on these issues in his work and in cooking, and he joins me now.

Welcome to the program.

CATHAL ARMSTRONG, Chef/Restauranteur:  Thanks for having me. Alright.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  This was a medical study.  And, you know, we might normally talk to a scientist, but we want to talk to somebody who works with food, thinks about food issues every day.

So, first of all, were you surprised that the result was that saturated fats may not necessarily be bad for your heart?

CATHAL ARMSTRONG:  No, I wasn’t surprised at all.

I mean, we have known for years that animal fats are actually good for you.  And, you know, being involved in the food industry and what we do, it always boggles my mind when you hear these people come up with this idea that this area of food is bad for you or this area of food is bad for you, you shouldn’t be eating carbs, you shouldn’t be eating fats, you shouldn’t be eating this.

And to brush things with broad strokes like that generally is not going to be accurate.  Food is a much more complicated, much more complex thing than that.  And a perfect example of it is orange juice.  For years, everybody was telling you that they should drink orange juice.  And then, all of a sudden, it turns out that orange juice is nothing but sugar.

Because the complexity of the orange, we’re missing out on the benefits.