Glen Lawrence, from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Long Island University, has published a comprehensive review of the relationship between dietary fats and health in the May Advances in Nutrition in which he summarizes the well-researched observation that our decades long fear of saturated fat is ill-founded and has been hazardous to our health. Our avoidance of saturated fat has led us toward a consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids at a level never before seen in human history, properly sandwiched by an inordinate intake of carbohydrates. We dip our breads, donuts, and chips in omega-6 oils that have overwhelmed the now reduced level of omega 3 fatty acids on our plates. The health effects - added weight, increased diabetes, cardiovascular and malignant disease - can be plainly seen around us, and, thanks to Lawrence's article, catalogued in scientific research.
His point, ultimately, is that the time has come for conventional dietary recommendations to change.
Readers of this website have probably already discarded their fear of fat; now we can hopefully await scientifically indicated new dietary restrictions. Soon, I hope.
