Saturated fat has had a bad wrap for years, but Dr Paul Mason says the science behind this is false, and fats are entirely healthy.
He chats with Dr Peter Brukner about the foods that have been unfairly demonised and which foods you should incorporate into your daily diet when it comes to keeping your type 2 diabetes at bay.
Dr Peter Brukner: Support for many years saturated fat has been demonized as a cause of heart disease. Is that true?
Dr Paul Mason: No, it doesn't look like it is. In actual fact, when we go back and have a look at some of the old data from studies that were done in the 1960s and 1970s, and reevaluate them, it looks like the opposite is in fact true that saturated fats are entirely healthy.
Dr Peter Brukner: Is there evidence for that now?
Dr Paul Mason: Well, absolutely. We've had several follow up studies. For instance, we had the pure study that was a large epidemiological study. 135,000 participants over about 18 different countries. And that found that as people's saturated fat consumption increased, so too, did their lifespans. And in actual fact, it seems like the message is now getting through.
So just earlier this year, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology published a state of the art review, which explicitly recommends that we should not avoid eggs, full fat, dairy, or fatty meats. There's simply no evidence that avoiding these foods will offer any benefit at all to the heart, and probably cutting them out will cause harms.
Dr Peter Brukner: I'm pleased to hear that because they are some of my favorite foods.
Dr Paul Mason: I'll be honest, I'm quite partial to a bacon and egg breakfast myself.
