Then something happened in 1950 with Ancel Keys and the 7 countries study. Eisenhower had his heart attack in 1955. His cardiologist was Paul Dudley White. The American Heart Association got a $1.7 million donation, the equivalent of $20 million today from Proctor & Gamble who make Crisco vegetable oil. And then the American Heart Association begins talking about how saturated fats are bad, and polyunsaturated fats are good. And there are literally advertisements from the 1960s talking about how you should polyunsaturated your family.
The 1961 AHA advice to limit saturated fat is arguably the single-most influential nutrition policy ever published, as it came to be adopted first by the U.S. government, as official policy for all Americans, in 1980, and then by governments around the world as well as the World Health Organization. It is worth noting that the AHA had a significant conflict of interest, since in 1948, it had received $1.7 million, or about $20 million in today's dollars, from Procter & Gamble (P&G), the makers of Crisco oil [2]. This donation was transformative for the AHA, propelling what was a small group into a national organization; the P&G funds were the ‘bang of big bucks’ that ‘launched’ the group, according to the organization's own official history [7]. Vegetable oils such as Crisco have reaped the benefits of this recommendation ever since, as Americans increased their consumption of these oils by nearly 90% from 1970 to 2014 [8].
9:31 The chart where Eades shows the fats consumed
starting in 1971, he states that that is when the population began eating more
vegetable oils. We used to consume
animal fats on a regular basis, lard. Now
we’re consuming vegetable oils. I was shocked at the level of consumption of soy oil.
9:55 He mentions the Economic Research Service, or ERS.
10:45 He shows the decline in beef consumption.
11:05 To explain the increase in vegetable oils and the decrease in the consumption of beef, he points to two reasons: one, people are eating out more. And when you eat out, you lose all control over what you eat. He says you may order a steak and some sauteed asparagus, but you don't know what they sauteed it in. [I think of this every time and it is one of the reasons why eating out, though sometimes necessary, is more and more disappointing.] And you don't know what they seared the steak in. When he was a kid, he says he never went to a restaurant until he was in the 7th grade other than when his family was traveling somewhere. Other than that, every meal was at home. We prepared at home. Now, half the people eat out and lose far too much control over what they eat. None of us know what any of this stuff is cooked in.
On a side note, I ate a Panda Inn chain in Denver, and my stomach flipped in knots. It was so bad that I called the restaurant to ask what oils they used to cook their foods in. I was surprised that they told me: it was soybean oil, which sounded harmless enough and ubiquitous enough to me. But I did learn that soybean oil is more fat-generating and diabetes-generating than coconut oil or fructose.
12:15 He cites a time when he went undercover as a chef at a chain restaurant to find out what kind of oils they use in their cooking. And what he found was that they use Canola Oil, the most ubiquitous [because it's tasteless--neutral aromas] oil in outdoor dining and Soybean Salad Oil, and that's what they cook EVERYTHING in: steak, fish, burgers, French Fries. When you order a salad with olive oil and vinegar, he says that you don't know if that olive oil hasn't been adulterated because of a huge problem with Olive Oil adulteration right now. And B, that's a little tiny bit of olive oil, while the rest of your meal is slathered in Soybean Oil. Even at stores, check the ingredients on package-wrapped sandwiches, crackers, or pastries. You will find Canola Oil everywhere. By the way, there is no plant called Canola. Canola is a compound noun: it combines Canada with oil, hence, Canola. Canola Oil has 32% Linoleic Acid. Soybean Oil has 61% Linoleic Oil. So the more we eat out, the more oils we get. And we're getting a pernicious oil: that's linoleic oil that contains linoleic acid. What's the hazard of Linoleic Acid, you ask?
That Linoleic Acid Chart, 1961-2008, and how it contributes to subcutaneous body fat, compiled by Guyenet and Susan Carlson, 2015, can be found here. Find more scholarly articles by Stephan Guyenet, Ph.D here. Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, PUFAs.
15:45 After 1980, our attitudes toward saturated fats changed. We were told to be scared of it. And because we were frightened by it, we've gone along with all of these guidelines to avoid saturated fats.
16:05 Graph. The blue-green lines are the things that we've been told to eat more of, and in the red are those things we've been told to eat less of.
Eat more vegetables, fruits, grains, vegetable oils. Eat fewer meats, eggs, whole milk, animal fats, butter. From 1971 to 2011, there's been about a 20.5% decrease in the consumption of saturated fat.
Changes since 1980, Linoleic Acid has gone way, way up. Saturated fat has gone down and our calories, primarily, the carbohydrate calories have gone up. So it's kind of the perfect storm:
1. Wholesale adoption of vegetable oils.
2. Increased consumption of refined carbs.
3. The demonization of saturated fat.
Hypothesizes that linoleic acid promotes obesity. How does it promote obesity? What's the mechanism?
18:00 Saturated fats protect against obesity. In addition, the CI [Carbohydrate + Insulin] Hypothesis is important.
21:38 Food > ATP > gives us Life. We eat food and break it down to high-energy electrons, or ATP, which is the currency of life. Now we do all this in the mitochondria.
26:30 Thousands of mitochondria in each cell, and you have billions of cells. 150 revolutions per second, and with each revolution they're cranking off an ATP. They can churn out your body weight in ATP daily. One can make 195 pounds of ATP. That is phenomenal.
28:35 We all want to increase our mitochondria and our mitochondria biosynthesis. We can do this by eating right and exercising. Great paper by Nick Lane, who has written the book, Power, Sex, and Suicide, 2018.
29:20 Hydrogen peroxide creates local insulin resistance at the cellular level. Now, I am not talking about total body insulin resistance. This can be protective of excess nutrients going into the cells from over-eating. And it's one way the cells have to prevent taking in too much stuff that they don't want.
Sears’ first book, The Zone, promises
us that everything will be just wonderful in our lives if simply learn to keep
a strict balance of protein, carbohydrates and fat in our meals. The lipid
hypothesis was wrong, he says and fat is OK–but then comes the bad news.
We’re not supposed to eat saturated
fat, or fats containing arachidonic acid–which eliminates delicious and
nutritious foods like butter, whole cheeses, egg yolks, meat fat and organ
meats–leaving the Zone diet eerily similar to the American Heart Associations
“prudent diet” of lean meat, low-fat concoctions and vegetable oils. The only
real difference is that Sears has replaced corn oil with olive oil.
Mastering
the Zoneoffers a range of recipes that allow you to enter the
hallowed circle of macronutrient balance–but a quick perusal reveals that there
is even less fat–or rather oil–in the Zone recipes than can be found in many
“heart healthy” recipes books endorsed by the AHA. Dinner entree recipes call
for only 2 2/3 teaspoons of olive oil and that’s for two people!
Skim milk cheeses, low fat yogurt,
egg whites (but not the yolks), soybean imitation products, and protein powders
feature large inMastering the Zoneas aids on the road to Nirvana.
If you have trouble figuring out
the exact proportions of fat, protein and carbohydrates you need to get
yourself into Zone heaven, you can order specially-balanced Zone bars by
calling a toll free number. Principal ingredients include fructose syrup, soy
protein isolate, honey, calcium caseinate (Elmer’s glue), corn syrup and sugar.
