Trust your doctor?

I was at the Chester County Hospital a few days ago to get a Stress Test. I was at the cardiovascular center, sitting in the lobby, and I saw an adverstisement in the hospital's "Stay Healthy" pamphlet. The advertisement warned against eating saturated fats, and specifically warned against using Coconut Oil (one of my favorite oils!) because of it's high saturated fats content.

Coconut oil is delicious and nutritious, no matter what your doctor says.

It was after seeing this bold claim at the cardiovascular center to avoid dietary saturated fats that I saw this article published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition...

Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease

The authors of the study found that, "A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD (coronary heart disease) or CVD (cardiovascular disease)."

There you have it, bird fans, saturated fat intake is not a factor for cardiovascular disease of coronary heart disease. I challenge you to tell this to your general practioner next time you are in her office and see if she is up to date on this article. I doubt it... she'll tell you to keep avoiding the butter.