In the article Health on Monday: What men want (TMID, 28 March), Nicholas Perricone uses the phrase “pro-inflammatory saturated fats” twice. I fear he has the metabolic effects of excessive omega-6 intake confused with the more benign effects of saturated fats. Please read this article by Massachusetts psychiatrist Emily Deans: Your Brain On Omega 3 – Psychology Today. It’s the best summary article on the subject I’ve seen thus far.
There’s growing realisation that excessive omega-6 intake, not saturated fat, is responsible for the increase in obesity and chronic inflammatory disease. Here’s what Dr Dwight Lundell, a prominent American heart surgeon, says: “Cholesterol does not cause heart disease – inflammation in the arteries does. What is inflammation and where is it coming from? The answer to that question is both tragic and sad. The very dietary recommendations born of the cholesterol theory of no-fat and low-fat foods cause inflammation. Polyunsaturated omega-6 oils; packaged and processed foods created for shelf life and not long life; sugars and simple carbohydrates create inflammation. This is the cause of an epidemic of heart disease, obesity and other chronic illnesses.”
Few know this, but the idea that saturated fats cause heart disease has always been controversial. Thankfully, the controversy is finally getting some publicity. Portland-based invasive cardiologist Dr James Beckerman discussed the matter in an article published on WebMD entitled The Low-Fat Diet – The Trojan Horse of Heart Disease? He said, “In recent weeks, a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition tried to solve the controversy once and for all. Analysis of pooled data from 20-plus studies and nearly 350,000 participants found no difference in the risk of heart disease between people with the lowest and highest intake of saturated fat.”
Dr Beckerman goes on to say, “This is huge. It’s like telling people that bicycle helmets don’t protect them from head injuries or seat belts don’t save lives. Sure, it’s not a perfect study. Some of the research relies on people’s recollections of what they ate, and it’s hard to draw any conclusions about whether there may be some benefit to a low-saturated-fat diet in older or higher-risk populations. But we can’t ignore such a clear challenge to our way of thinking and hope that it just goes away. We need more research, more data and more open minds.”
Other than the inaccurate portrayal of saturated fats, Dr Perricone’s article was excellent.
In closing, almost the whole world is at increased risk for obesity, the chronic inflammatory diseases and depression due to the proliferation of omega-6 seed oils. For the sake of your readers, you might want to study this matter and editorialise.
■ David Brown
Kalispell,
Montana, US