Archive for the ‘Diet’ Category:
The Evidence Against Cholesterol
The Evidence Against Cholesterol
The following kinds of studies have linked dietary fats and cholesterol to coronary deaths:
Biochemical. Cholesterol and substances made from cholesterol are the primary constituents of deposits that clog arteries, producing atherosclerosis, the main cause of deaths from heart disease. Cholesterol consumed as part of the diet has been shown to wind up in these deposits, rendering it guilty by association but not proving its harmful role beyond a reasonable doubt.
Epidemiological. Of seventeen major studies among peoples in various parts of the world, fourteen showed a very strong relationship between the average blood cholesterol level and the incidence of heart disease and coronary deaths. In the famous Framingham Heart Study, elevated blood cholesterol was singled out as one of three major risk factors for coronary heart disease.
The Cholesterol Controversy
The Cholesterol Controversy
Probably no other aspect of nutrition confuses people more than cholesterol, a waxy alcohol found only in animal foods that has long been labeled a primary culprit – along with its usual companion, saturated fats – in the national epidemic of heart disease.
Every other week, it seems, conflicting evidence is reported that alternately blames and absolves cholesterol and the foods, such as eggs, in which it is most prominent. In 1980 the prestigious Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, which sets the nutritional standards for normal Americans, contradicted the advice of twenty other organizations concerned with public health by stating that healthy people need not restrict dietary cholesterol and saturated fats since such a cutback has not been proved to have lifesaving benefits.
Cutting Down on Hidden Fat
Cutting Down on Hidden Fat
Most of the fat in our diets is hidden fat. It is the hard-to-notice marbling in meat. It is an integral part of hard cheeses and cream cheese, fish, deep-fried foods, nuts, seeds, cream soups, ice cream, and chocolate. It is a major ingredient in a wide variety of factory-prepared products, including baked goods (especially cakes, pies and cookies), processed meats (frankfurters, bologna, and the like), instant meals, coffee whiteners, whipped toppings, snack foods, and granolas. Even one popular diet product, Pillsbury’s Figurines, has fat as its main ingredient.
Yet those who advocate more healthful diets that are not overly dependent on red meat often substitute fattier foods than the ones they reject. Examples include the quiches, avocado salads, nuts and seeds, nut butters, sesame paste, and granolas featured in health food restaurants and stores. A quiche is made from cheese in which three-fourths of the calories come from fat that is more saturated than meat fat, cream in which nearly all the calories are fat, and piecrust in which more than half the calories are fat calories.
Fats and Cholesterol: Arterial Nemesis
Fats and Cholesterol
If there is one nutrient that has the decks stacked against it, it’s fat. The typical American diet not only is rich in protein, but it also has a higher fat content than nearly any other diet in the world. While agreement on this issue is not universal, many scientists blame this high-fat diet for a number of our chronic health problems and killing diseases, among them heart disease, obesity, and possibly cancers of the colon, breast, and uterus.
Fat is a more concentrated source of calories than any other nutrient and thus is the most “fattening” foodstuff we regularly consume. A gram of dietary fat supplies your body with 9 calories, compared with only 4 calories per gram of either carbohydrates or protein. Even alcohol has fewer calories (7 per gram) than fat. Cutting down on fats is one of the best ways to reduce calorie intake and achieve and maintain a normal body weight.