Recently, I completed a 12-week cardiac rehabilitation program. A part of the program is nutrition education – what I should eat and not eat to prevent heart disease and maintain a healthy heart. Among the program’s nutrition recommendations are: if you drink milk, drink 1 percent or skim; better yet, replace cow’s milk with an almond or soy beverage (I cannot call it milk); stay away from butter; yogurt should be non-fat; cheese should be lower-fat varieties; and try to stay away from ice cream, but if you do eat ice cream limit the indulgence to one scoop and not very often.
Obviously, the cardiac rehabilitation program is not a strong promoter of dairy products. I am sure many of you have experienced similar education from health professionals.
For many years, the American Heart Association and federal government food guidelines, supported by health professionals, have recommended limiting consumption of dairy products, especially higher-fat products, due to their saturated fat content and the link to heart disease.
The dairy industry has experienced first-hand the impact of this recommendation. Since 1960, just one year before the American Heart Association targeted saturated fats, per-capita consumption of all fluid milk products declined from about 265 pounds per capita to less than 175 pounds today.
Whole milk suffered the largest decline, dropping almost 350 percent from more than 200 pounds per capita in 1960 to less than 45 pounds today. Granted, there are other reasons for declining fluid milk consumption, but guidelines limiting consumption of dairy fat is a primary reason.
Making the headlines
Research is now starting to circulate disputing the link between saturated fat and heart disease. An article in the scientific journal Annals of Internal Medicine, published this past March 18, reported on a number of studies showing that saturated fat does not increase the risk of heart disease. But only recently has the research received national attention. Let me reference two articles with descriptive titles.
First was the May 6, 2014 Wall Street Journal with an article titled, “The Questionable Link Between Saturated Fat and Heart Disease – Are butter, cheese and steak really bad for you? The dubious science behind the anti-fat crusade.” The article’s author, Nina Teicholz, also recently released a book, “The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet.” The book is the result of her decade-long research into dietary fat and disease.
Second, the June 23, 2014 issue of Time magazine, which has drawn the most attention. The Time cover reads: “EAT BUTTER. Scientists labeled fat the enemy. Why they were wrong.” The lead article in the issue is “Don’t Blame Fat.” The article shows that, for decades, fat was the most vilified nutrient in the American diet, but new science reveals fat is not what’s hurting our health.
K rations, Crisco oil and President Eisenhower
Both articles point out that scientists are finally accepting and recognizing flaws in the original research which linked saturated fat consumption and heart disease. Ancel Benjamin Keys, a University of Minnesota scientist, is credited with linking saturated fat to heart disease back in the 1950s.
Dr. Keys was first known as the inventor of “K” rations during World War II. Keys’ findings are based on his research called the “Seven Countries Study.” This study, which involved men in the U.S., selected European countries and Japan, showed that men who ate a low-saturated fat diet had less heart disease, while those with diets that contained dairy and meat had higher levels of heart disease.
Later, Keys became a member of the American Heart Association’s nutrition committee, and after much persuasion Keys convinced the association to adopt guidelines limiting saturated fat intake.
Let me interject, Ms. Teicholz points out that Proctor and Gamble, the marketer of Crisco oil (a butter substitute), played a significant role in the American Heart Association becoming a national organization. Even though there were scientists skeptical of the Keys study early on, his work became the scientific foundation linking consumption of saturated fat to heart disease.
It is also important to interject that during the 1950s, as stated by Ms. Teicholz, there was a heart-disease epidemic in the U.S. Almost one-half of all deaths in the U.S. in 1955 were due to heart disease. When President Eisenhower suffered a heart attack in 1955, heart disease was center stage in this country.
People were looking for answers to heart disease and turning the tide in deaths due to heart attacks. Dr. Keys was ready with his study and his recommendation to reduce fat consumption. Health professionals and many in the public had a receptive ear. In fact, Dr. Keys was on the cover of Time in 1961. How ironic that more than 50 years later, his study is questioned by the same magazine.
What happened?
Today, the misgivings and results of Dr. Keys’ work are coming to the forefront. The study itself was flawed in that the countries chosen for the study were not a random sample. Rather, Dr. Keys chose countries he thought would support his theory. His surveys did not use a reliable sample, and in some cases he failed to count the full consumption of saturated fat.
In addition, as reported in both articles and the book, the results of following a low-fat diet have not been what were expected. Yes, we have reduced fat consumption in this country. Granted, deaths from heart disease have decreased, but many, including me based on personal experience, attribute that to better and quicker medical care and medication.
Heart disease, however, continues to be this country’s number one killer. It is estimated that about one-third of the U.S. population is obese. The cases of Type 2 diabetes continue to grow.
Those advocating a low-fat diet expected people to replace butter, milk and red meat with fruits and vegetables. Instead, we consume more grains, pasta and starchy vegetables – more carbohydrates. According to Ms. Teicholz, since the early 1970s consumption of saturated fat dropped about 11 percent while carbohydrate consumption increased at least 25 percent.
Many of the so-called low-fat foods replace the fat with carbohydrate fillers. Excess carbohydrate consumption is linked to obesity, Type 2 diabetes and possibly heart disease – the opposite of what Keys and his advocates expected.
Also, research is changing what we know about saturated fat. Saturated fat raises LDL-cholesterol levels, which is associated with heart disease. On the other hand, saturated fat increases levels of the good HDL cholesterol. HDL takes away the LDL which accumulates on the walls of arteries and leads to artery blockage. In other words, when it comes to saturated fat and cholesterol, it is a wash.
In conclusion, the debate over saturated fat found in dairy and other foods and the link to heart disease will no doubt continue for many years. It is difficult to change something people have accepted and taught as a fact for many years. The new thinking on dairy and saturated fat consumption has not yet changed the nutrition teaching in the cardiac rehabilitation I participated in.
Hopefully, with additional media coverage and more scientists questioning current recommendations on consumption of dairy products, we will see changes in nutrition guidelines. Who knows, maybe this will fuel a turnaround in consumption of fluid milk, and butter consumption will skyrocket. PD
Calvin Covington is a retired dairy cooperative CEO and now does some farming, consulting, writing and public speaking.
Calvin Covington
Retired Dairy Cooperative Executive
