Cardiologist argues case for saturated fat in diets

Scientists have suggested that saturated fats could actually be good for the heart, contrary to popular belief.
A new debate published in the British Medical Journal has argued that people who avoid this type of fat as part of a diet have been misled by previous studies that were “falsely interpreted”.
Since 1970, dieters have been warned off saturated fats, following a landmark study which concluded that there was a link between heart disease and cholesterol, which was linked to the amount of energy provided by saturated fat.
Advice was then issued to cut the regular intake of fat to 30 per cent and saturated fat to ten per cent.
Cardiologist Aseem Malhotra said: “It is time to bust the myth of the role of saturated fat in heart disease and wind back the harms of dietary advice that has contributed to obesity .”
He also added that the current dieting culture and fear of consuming saturated fat has led to an over subscription of statin drugs – with eight million people in the UK regularly taking them.
Some European countries are now encouraging more people to adopt foods that are high in fat but low in carbohydrates into their diet.