As I said yesterday, government experts have long advised us to cut back on red meat and butter. Both are rich in saturated fats (SFs). Instead, they want us to use vegetable oils rich in polyunsaturated fats (PUFs). They say it will reduce our risk of dying from heart disease. This advice first surfaced in the 1960s. And it has been a cornerstone of worldwide dietary recommendations ever since.
At the time, health experts believed PUFs helped lower cholesterol. The omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid (LA) was the best-known PUF. Thus, experts often used the terms PUF and LA interchangeably when conducting clinical research. And giving out dietary advice.
But we now know this is incorrect.
We now know that PUF is a general category. It contains many different kinds of fats, including omega-3s and omega-6s. These fats have separate biochemical properties. And they affect the heart and cardiovascular system much differently.
For example, we now know that the omega-3 fatty acids have many positive health benefits. Scientific evidence consistently supports this.
But many people wrongly assumed (and still assume) that all PUFs have health benefits.
This is not the case.
No clinical evidence proves that replacing saturated fats with the omega-6 linoleic acid (LA) can lower the risk of heart disease or death.
The omega-3 fatty acids are the key. You find these in fish, nuts, flax seed, and some beans. You must have these PUFs in your diet to improve your health.
Unfortunately, omega-6 fatty acids are the most abundant PUFs in the American diet. You find them in commonly used oils, such as safflower oil and vegetable oil.
To help clear up this confusion, Australian researchers began the Sydney Diet Heart Study back in 1966. It ran until 1973. The researchers studied the effects of replacing saturated fats with safflower oil. This oil is a concentrated source of the omega-6 linoleic acid (LA). It doesn’t contain any other PUFs.
In 1978, the study’s researchers reported that the safflower oil group increased their overall death rates.
And here’s what’s even more disturbing…
As I reported previously, some of the most important results from the study got buried for nearly four decades.
Thankfully, Australian researchers recently reanalyzed the original data.
They found that 12 percent of the saturated fat group died over a seven-year period overall. By comparison, 18 percent of the safflower oil group died over the same period overall. Plus, the safflower oil group had a more than two-thirds (1.74 times) higher risk of dying from heart disease specifically.
This analysis confirms that cutting out saturated fats and substituting polyunsaturated fats increases overall death rates. It also proves that following this “advice” increases death rates from heart and cardiovascular diseases. And it’s the complete opposite of what the “experts” have been promising for the past half-century.
As I have often warned, take the government’s health recommendations with a “grain of salt.”
To find out more about what you can do to really protect against heart disease, see my special report called The Insiders’ Secret to Conquering High Blood Pressure & Protecting Your Heart. Subscribers to my newsletter get this report for free. If you are not yet a subscriber, now is the perfect time to get started.