For decades now, the “experts” have been warning us about the supposed danger to our health of consuming saturated fat. We have been told that consuming saturated fat will clog our arteries and cause a heart attack. We have been encouraged to consume unsaturated fats instead because, we are told, these are much better for our health. The evidence suggests that we have been told a load of big fat lies.  

Big Fat Lies about Saturated and Unsaturated Fats

– by Simon Lee, Science Officer, Anew UK

“I’m fully aware that Spam (other fatty processed pork-based products are also available) divides opinion. I happen to love it. It might also happen to be the secret to a long and healthy life.” says Simon Lee. Read on to find out why…  

Saturated fats  

In February of 2022, the International Journal of General Medicine published a study titled “Total Meat Intake is Associated with Life Expectancy: A Cross-Sectional Data Analysis of 175 Contemporary Populations,” by Wenpeng You et al.  

Since it contradicts the official advice to reduce meat consumption and increase carbohydrate intake it was completely ignored by the mainstream media propagandists.  

The researchers analysed data from 175 countries and compared newborn life expectancy with meat and carbohydrate intake, taking into account potential confounding risk factors to life expectancy—caloric intake, urbanization, obesity and education levels.  

They discovered that worldwide, meat intake was associated with a longer life, and carbohydrate consumption had a weak but negative correlation with life expectancy.  

We have been led to believe that the key to a long life is to minimize meat consumption and eat plenty of vegetables. Studying the diets of the people who live in so called “Blue Zone” areas of the world—those with a high percentage of centenarians, tells a different story.  

In Blue Zone Sardinia, meat consumption is higher among the long-lived peasants living in the mountains compared to those living in the valleys, according to a 2015 study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition:  

“The identification of a hot spot of exceptional longevity, the Longevity Blue Zone (LBZ), in the mountain population of Sardinia has aroused considerable interest toward its traditional food as one of the potential causal factors … Up to a short time ago, the LBZ population depended mostly upon livestock rearing, and consumption of animal-derived foods was relatively higher than in the rest of the island.”  

On the Blue Zone Japanese island of Okinawa, they consume more protein and fats- mainly pork, pork fat, and fish, compared to mainland Japanese people. Interestingly, the Okinawans are Spam lovers who eat just over seven million cans per year, which works out at one can per person per week. Spam is exactly the kind of fatty, processed meat that the “experts” warn us to avoid if we want to stay healthy.  

The  Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica is another Blue Zone that also has an abundance of cattle, goats, and pigs. The people who live there are enthusiastic meat and lard eaters.  

A 2013 study of the region found that the older Nicoyans ate more fish, more meat, and more saturated fat (from lard) than people in other regions of Costa Rica. A local delicacy is a stew containing organ meats called “sustancia”.  

In the Blue Zone of Ikaria, a Greek island, they consume lots of goat and sheep dairy products, which are very high in saturated fat. As per Greek tradition they also eat plenty of fatty lamb.  

Perhaps surprisingly the people of polluted Hong Kong have the longest lifespan in the world. According to UN data, the life expectancy in Hong Kong is 82.38 years for men and 88.17 years for women. The people of Hong Kong also have the highest consumption of meat and dairy products in the world, at 500 grams of meat and 281 grams of dairy products per day.  

Professor Lindsay Allen, from the University of California at Davis, found that adding just two ounces of meat to the diet of poor children in Africa “transformed them both physically and mentally.” Over a two-year period, and compared to those who received a cup of milk, an oil supplement, or a fourth group that received no supplement, those who received meat “almost doubled their muscle development, and showed dramatic improvements in mental skills.

They also became more active, talkative and playful at school … and showed more leadership skills.” In the meat group, test scores for mental skills improved by 35 points, compared to an improvement of 14 in the milk group and no measurable change in the children who got no animal-based supplements. According to Prof Allen:  

“Animal source foods have some nutrients which are not found anywhere else. If you’re talking about feeding young children and pregnant women and lactating women I would go as far as to say it is unethical to withhold these foods during that period of life … Adding either meat or milk to the diets also almost completely eliminated the very high rates of vitamin B12 deficiency previously seen in the children.”  

Prof Allen went on to say:  

“It’s important to know that these important benefits to human function and human capital were seen in just two years. Had these children received these foods earlier in life or their mothers received them when they had been pregnant, or people could receive them throughout their lives, we think that the improvements in human capital development would be even more dramatic.”  

Contrary to what the “experts” preach, animal foods rich in saturated fat, especially meat, are essential for growth, proper development, mental function, and a long healthy life.    

Unsaturated fats   Sometimes, taking an ancestral view of diet can be very informative. What has been introduced into our diets that coincides with the recent epidemic of obesity and chronic disease? What did our ancestors eat that enabled them to avoid obesity and chronic disease?  

It has become clear that the most toxic so-called foods that we consume these days are seed oils. Incredibly these vegetable oils are what the “experts” encourage people to consume on the basis that they are “heart healthy”.  

Previously healthy communities have become obese and sick when seed oils have replaced their traditional fats. Inhaling seed oil fumes from cooking is thought to be behind the rise in lung cancer among non-smoking Asian women.  

Seed oils are hidden in so many processed food products and are labelled as “vegetable” oils in the ingredient list. These oils are industrially extracted with high temperatures and solvents from soy, corn, cotton, safflower, and rapeseed plants, creating chemical residues, trans fats and oxidised byproducts.  

Our ancestors used nothing but animal fats for most of their history, and they were comparatively very healthy. Seed oils, on the other hand, are toxic in many ways, unbalancing the body’s omega 3 to omega 6 ratios and are full of linoleic acid, causing all kinds of metabolic and cellular damage.  

Seed oils were originally used as machine lubricants and in the soap making process. They were classed as “toxic waste” but by deceitful marketing they are now touted as “heart healthy” by corrupt organisations like the British Heart Foundation.  

Corporate propaganda in the first half of last century created the completely false lipid hypothesis of heart disease and this is still the basis of corrupted modern diet science. American cardiologists were bought by Procter and Gamble to push the lies and the biased research of the psychopathic Ancel Keys helped to establish the lipid hypothesis lies as fact.  

Many people now avoid healthy natural animal fats, choosing instead to fry food in vegetable oil and spread synthetic toxic margarine on wholemeal bread that causes increased intestinal permeability or “leaky gut”.  

Seed oils have been linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, autoimmunity and virtually every modern degenerative disease.  

Unsaturated vegetable oils have been recommended by the “experts” as a healthier alternative to natural saturated animal fats for decades. However, uncorrupted research suggests the opposite, especially when it comes to the highly refined, denatured seed oils consumed by most people.  

Most vegetable oils consist of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats that are more prone to oxidation than saturated animal fats. The susceptibility of specific fatty acids to oxidation is dependent on their length and the presence or absence of double bonds.  

As saturated fats have no double bonds, they are the least prone to oxidation. Monounsaturated fats have a single double bond, making them less stable, and polyunsaturated fats can have two or more double bonds, which makes them even more unstable.  

This oxidation can lead to inflammation and the formation of cancer-causing byproducts, such as aldehydes.  

To measure an oil’s stability, it is heated to a specific temperature, usually about 110 C, which triggers oxidative processes and the formation of oxidants. These oxidants are dissolved into conductivity cells filled with water, thereby altering the water’s conductivity. The test continues until the water’s conductivity changes significantly, which is indicative of significant oxidation.  

A longer oxidative stability time indicates higher oxidation resistance. Oils with longer stability times can tolerate higher temperatures and prolonged heating without producing significant amounts of oxidants.  

Main Cooking Oils Ranked from Least to Most Stable:

1. Sunflower and Soybean  
2. Canola  
3. Olive and Avocado
4. Palm  
5. Coconut and Palm Kernel  
6. Tallow, Butter, and Ghee    

Studies have shown that unrefined extra-virgin olive oil and avocado oil have better resistance against oxidation than their refined counterparts. Refinement processes can remove natural antioxidants that protect against oxidation.  

Palm oil, obtained from the flesh of the palm fruit, consists of about 50% saturated fat and has good resistance to oxidation. Red palm oil is abundant in vitamin E and beta-carotene, which is a precursor to vitamin A. These antioxidants contribute to the oil’s resistance to oxidation and its bright orange-red colour. Prolonged heating destroys carotene, causing the oil to lose its colour.  

Both coconut and palm kernel oil have a saturated fat content in excess of 80%, making them very resistant to oxidation. The length of the saturated fats also influences their heat and oxygen resistance. As both of these oils consist mainly of medium-chain fatty acids, they have lower melting and smoke points than other saturated fats.  

Tallow is the rendered fat from beef or lamb and contains more than 50% long-chain saturated fatty acids. Both clarified butter (ghee) and regular butter are high in saturated fat, with saturated fat accounting for more than 70% of their total fat content. Research has shown that both ghee and regular butter produce low oxidation. Tallow is highly resistant to high-heat cooking. In a study comparing tallow with lard and canola, soybean, and peanut oils, tallow produced the lowest peroxide-related oxidants.

Conclusions  

We are told to avoid saturated fat because it is unhealthy and we are told to consume unsaturated fat because it is better for our health. This isn’t just wrong it is a complete inversion of the truth. The healthy and long lived people of Sardinia, Okinawa, the Nicoya Peninsula, Ikaria, and Hong Kong are living proof of why we should reject the “expert” advice about dietary fats. We are being told big fat lies.  

References  

1) Total Meat Intake is Associated with Life Expectancy: A Cross-Sectional Data Analysis of 175 Contemporary Populations Wenpeng You, Renata Henneberg, Arthur Saniotis,Yanfei Ge,and Maciej Henneberg Int J Gen Med. 2022; 15: 1833–1851.  

2) Meat Consumption and Longevity-Researchers have found that worldwide, meat intake is associated with a longer life. Sally Fallon Morell Epoch Bright Jul 29 2023.  

3) Associations of maternal nutrition during pregnancy and post-partum with maternal cognition and caregiving. Elizabeth L Prado, Ulla Ashorn, John Phuka, Kenneth Maleta, John Sadalaki, Brietta M Oaks, Marjorie Haskell, Lindsay H Allen, Steve A Vosti, Per Ashorn, Kathryn G Dewey. Randomized Controlled Trial Matern Child Nutr. 2018 Apr;14(2).  

4) Seed oils linked to poor health By PHIL ESCOTT. The Light Australia Issue 7.  

5) How Popular Cooking Oils Stack Up in Terms of Oxidation Debunking the Fat Dogma (Part 4) Marina Zhang. Epoch Health.