Not knowing which fats are healthy can mean the difference between life and death.

This Diet Mistake Kills 50,000 Americans a Year

In All Health Watch, Blood Pressure, Cholesterol, Diet and Nutrition, Featured Article, Heart and Cardiovascular, Heart Attacks, Heart Disease, Weight Loss

What if a study confirmed that Americans are making a diet mistake? One that causes tens of thousands of us to die needlessly each year?

Hopefully we would correct the error and lead long and healthy lives.

New research debunks a deep-seated medical myth. It’s about an eating habit you thought was saving your health. In reality, it was killing you. This diet mistake kills the equivalent of a medium-sized city every year, the study found.

Millions have already perished. They went to their graves thinking they were eating healthy. Instead, they committed dietary suicide. 

Here’s the good news. Fixing this mistake is not difficult. It doesn’t cost anything.

You won’t have to starve yourself. You don’t have to go on a complicated diet. You likely won’t even have to pass up any of your favorite foods.

In fact, you might be able to eat more of them. Here’s what you need to know…

The Food Phobia That Kills

Americans’ fear of fat is killing us, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association.1

The medical establishment brainwashed the public by telling them for decades that all fat is bad. So we’ve cut back… Both on good fat and bad.

“Our findings highlight the importance of ending America’s fear of all fat,” said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian. He is the senior study author and dean of the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston.

He estimates that nearly 50,000 Americans die of heart disease each year due to low intake of oils.

We need fat-laden oils to stay healthy. But it’s crucial to eat the right oils.

Simple Fat Formula for Good Health

It’s pretty simple: Artificial trans fats can kill us. Saturated fats are not bad. Polyunsaturated fats are great.

Trans fats are an industrial product created by adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid. This gives foods a smoother texture. It also makes them deadly. About 537,000 deaths worldwide could have been prevented by reducing trans fat intake, the new study concludes.

Hydrogenated trans fat oils are in shortenings, fried foods like doughnuts, baked goods, frozen pizza, stick margarines, and other spreads.2

Trans fats raise your level of bad cholesterol (LDL) and lower good cholesterol (HDL). This leads to strokes and heart attacks.3

How bad are trans fats? In 2013, the Federal Drug Administration determined that partially hydrogenated oils are no longer Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) in human food. In other words, the FDA considers the stuff poisonous.4

Last summer the agency gave food manufacturers three years to remove artificial trans fats from their products.

Saturated fats are those found in red meat and butter. You’ll also find them in avocados and coconuts. For decades health authorities warned against them. But recent studies have found no correlation between saturated fat intake and heart disease.

In fact, there is evidence that saturated fat prevents heart disease by lowering triglycerides.5

Polyunsaturated fats are what you want more of. They are in olive oil, seeds, nuts, and wild-caught fatty fish (such as salmon, herring, mackerel and trout).

Some 250,000 heart disease deaths a year worldwide are due to eating too little healthy polyunsaturated fats, according to the new study.6

The bottom line:

  • Cut out trans fats.
  • Eat saturated fats—but opt for organic meats and butter.
  • Increase heart healthy polyunsaturated fats.

The latest research shows it could make the difference between life and death.

In Good Health,

Angela Salerno
Publisher, INH Health Watch

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References:
1http://consumer.healthday.com/senior-citizen-information-31/misc-death-and-dying-news-172/upping-healthy-fat-intake-may-lead-to-longer-lives-707202.html
2http://www.livescience.com/51823-trans-fat-heart-disease.html
3http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/HealthyEating/Nutrition/Trans-Fats_UCM_301120_Article.jsp
4http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/HealthyEating/Nutrition/Trans-Fats_UCM_301120_Article.jsp
5http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/03/17/290846811/dont-fear-the-fat-experts-question-saturated-fat-guidelines
6http://jaha.ahajournals.org/content/5/1/e002891.full