Saturated fats, did they lie to us all that time ?

Are saturated fats your enemy ?

We have all heard it somewhere : watch out for saturated fats and cholesterol. Scientists, nutritionists and doctors seem to all agree on the matter, and consumers rely on their expertise to make food choices. As a result, we all seek to limit our saturated fats intake, by purchasing fat free yoghurts and drinks.

This "fat free" trend started in the US in the 60's and nicely made its way to Europe. Still, when looking at obesity statistics, we notice that obesity is on the rise, and that heart disease and diabetes are rising year by year. Indeed, 6% of Brits were obese in the 80s. Today, the adult obese population represents 25% of the population.

We eat less fat yet we get fatter. There is something we must have missed ! But what ?

Ridiculed scientist, the bothering truth ?

While studying nutrition in London, the name of John Yudkin was mentioned, ever so briefly. This English Nutritionist went from leader in his field to being forgotten after public humiliation. He had been ridiculed by his pairs for daring to envisage a bothering theory.

What did John Yudkin dare say ? He mentioned the theory that saturated fats were not the real danger, and pointed to sugar. Experiments in his lab, both on animals and on humans lead to believe that heart disease was strongly correlated to sugar consumption, not fat. Little did he know that by voicing such an assertion, he would go against another famous nutrition expert, Ancel Keys.

A study conducted by the latter was expressly referred to by then US President Eisenhower, after he went through a heart attack. Keys accused saturated fats as the main cause for heart disease. Yudkin's findings went against his theory, and were a threat to his reputation and credibility. Take a man's over-sized ego, a scientific disagreement, a reputation risk and there you have it, 50 years later, we are all accusing saturated fats.

How did we get there ?

In order to ensure his leadership in the field, Keys let himself fall in the game of politics and influence, a true nutrition wolf. He put a lot of energy into gathering as much evidence as he could to prove that he was right. He went very far, by organising a 6 year long study in 7 countries. Him and his crew analysed data on diet, lifestyle and health of adults in those 7 countries :

Italy
Greece
Yoguslavia
Netherlands
Japan
USA

With this data, he was able to establish that saturated fats and heart diseases were correlated.
However, this study and its results can be questioned on many points. Indeed, the method they used - observing trends - was not adapted to this type of research. I won't bother you with details on this because some parts still remain unclear to me.
Furthermore, this research was conducted on 7 countries that Keys himself chose.
France was not chosen, yet it has this reputation of loving fatty foods : cheese, foie gras, croissants... France was not picked because the results would have led to point to sugar as the main cause of heart disease, not saturated fats. Obviously, if you conduct researches while knowing what you want to find, your results are likely to be biased.

When we look at numbers, we remain uncertain. France is one of the countries that eats the most saturated fats, yet their stats in heart disease are one of the lowest. On the contrary, Ukraine is the country that eats the least saturated fats, yet they have the highest number of heart disease. This is strange... don't you think ?

Conclusion

This is only a little story to explain to you how some things become just a bunch of made up information that we rely on for our health.

Science is so uncertain that, maybe the best way to approach it is to have a little bit of everything without excess. It is also important to question things as much as possible, and always look for answers via several sources. Even this article !!

You see, John Yudkin did not make himself heard because it was not in his personality and he was crushed by Ancel Keys whose charisma did not leave his fellow scientists indifferent. It seems like a man's pride can make millions ill.

For the little story, after reading Keys' study results. Eisenhower decided to stop eating saturated fats. He died of a heart attack anyways...