The article was triggered by a paper in the British Medical Journal titled ‘Saturated fat is not the major issue. Let’s bust the myth of its role in heart disease’, by cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra, from Croydon University Hospital.
Endorsement of dairy fats as part of a healthy diet is welcome, particularly when it comes from a cardiologist. But Malhotra is not the first person to broadcast this message. In her well-researched book, Fat an appreciation of a misunderstood ingredient with recipes, Jennifer McLagan describes butter as comprising only around 50% saturated fat with 30% monounsaturated and 4% polyunsaturated, although these figures can vary in accordance with the cow's diet.
Moreover, the saturated fat in butter as in all other animal fats is not a single substance but a mixture of many different fatty acids 500 in the case of butter with many properties. Some are used immediately by the body and therefore not turned into body fat.
She also points out that butter contains lauric and butyric acids, which boost the immune system, while stearic and palmitic acids in butter reduce levels of bad cholesterol in the bloodstream.
The Sunday Times Style magazine (November 4 2012) reported: “for years we’ve been told saturated fat is bad for us. Now experts suggest that it is actually healthy to eat”. It goes on to say that for every scientific paper that connects saturated fats with bad health, there is one that disagrees. Despite the fact that fat consumption has fallen substantially over the past 10 years in the UK and USA, obesity levels have rocketed. Surely this should make the government sit up and think.
It is about time for scientists and policy-makers to muster the courage to challenge the possibly outdated assumption that saturated fat is universally bad for you when so much evidence is coming to light that this could be creating a bigger risk for people who do not have a genetic predisposition to coronary heart disease, obesity and diabetes. If the government is seen to live up to its claim to base policies on sound science, it needs to at least commission some research into the real role of saturated fats in the diet.