You are making a subject even more confusing than it actually is. The key is a disease free and disability free longevity. You will not find many people collectively who consume high amounts of saturated fats living a disease free and disability free life. Long livers are people that thrive on natural unprocessed foods, period. And if they have meat or dairy, it is A) usually their own animal b) milk is from their own animal c) it is in extreme moderation.
I have heard all the bling blang about saturated fats not causing heart disease, but seriously, you just won’t find hardly any people who only eat quality saturated fats with no vegetable oils, flour or refined sugars. It is alos too difficult for the average person to obtain quality saturated fats – and to understand it! When people eat crap, they eat it all – and when people are healthy, they stay away from it. The first time I heard someone convincing me that it is the fruit that makes people fat, not the meat, I almost fell over laughing -Particularly when she was fat herself!! Yep, that saturated fat thing sure is working.
Chris – simply spread the message of bugger all saturated fats, no crap vegetable oils and back off processed foods. Stick with plant based foods, its easy, EASY.

Yes, I’m completely comfortable telling you to eat saturated fat with heart disease. Heart disease is caused by inflammation and oxidative damage – not by saturated fat. I’ve written an entire series on how to minimize dietary and lifestyle risk factors that cause inflammation and oxidative damage. That is what you should be focused on. But you have to make your own decision, of course. I don’t provide medical advice to individuals over the Internet, and this should not be construed as such. I am simply educating you and explaining what the (good) research says.

And that is why you can’t draw any conclusions from studies that don’t control for confounding variables, like Esselstyn’s and Ornish’s. Sure, if you take a bunch of people on a Standard American Diet and put them on a vegetarian diet that removes flour, seed oils and sugar, they’re going to feel a lot better. But that doesn’t prove it had anything to do with removing saturated fat. In order to know that, you’d have to have a control group that also removed flour, seed oils and sugar, but continued to eat saturated fat. And guess what? We do have a few studies like that. They compared the Mediterranean Diet with the Paleo diet, and the Paleo diet produced more significant improvements in blood lipids, blood sugar and other cardiovascular risk factors. Here’s one, and here’s another.

Esselstyn’s claims don’t hold water, because they’ve never been verified in well-controlled studies. If saturated fats “lead to the cascade of events causing heart disease”, then why (after more than 40 trials) are there no studies that show any causative relationship between the two? And how is it possible, then, to have traditional cultures like the Inuit and Masai who get between 70-90% of their calories from saturated fat, and have no heart disease whatsoever? There are so many problems with Esselstyn’s argument it’s hard to know where to start.

I agree, I turned a blind eye to the “white flour buns” and “vegetable oils”, and I do agree with the studies you mention above. In fact, Anthony Colpo and I have exchanged emails often on the SATFAT/HEART DISEASE paradigm.

I made an attempt in my original post to acknowledge that I am UNSURE about what dietary factors continued my CVD. Plus, I do miss eating animal fats.

Still its hard for me to ignore studies that show, “The consumption of high-fat foods causes damage to the endothelial cells, inhibiting nitiric oxide production, and begins the cascade of events leading to heart disease.” ~ Dr. Esselstyn

Read more at Suite101: A Single High-Fat Meal Impairs Cardiovascular Function | Suite101.com http://www.suite101.com/content/a-single-high-fat-meal-impairs-cardiovascular-function-a370227#ixzz1SKiUFZlI

It’s hard to keep a clear path with so many conflicting studies.

Dave

Less progression. Not halted.

Chris, I have documented heart disease. You are comfortable with telling me that I can choose a diet high in saturated fats, (but with no refined carbs or sugars) and my disease will stop and reverse?

Dave

There is no “END OF STORY” from a study of 18 people. Period.

There are copious studies – which I’ve written about all over this blog – showing that saturated fat does not cause heart disease. Please show me a single study that shows a causal relationship between the two. You can’t, because there isn’t

You can’t even show me long-term studies indicating that saturated fat consumption raises cholesterol levels. They don’t exist.

I have many patients – including my father – who have reversed all indicators of heart disease by following a high saturated fat Paleo-type diet.

Want proof this is possible? In this study in American Clinical Journal of Nutrition, they separated women into 4 groups according to saturated fat intake. Guess what? The women who ate the least saturated fat (and the most carbs) had the highest rates of heart disease, and the women who ate the highest amounts of saturated fat actually reversed their atherosclerosis.

I’m sorry to hear of your struggles with heart disease, but you can’t blame it on a high-fat diet free of refined flour and seed oils, since that’s not what you were doing. There are many, many people doing just that who are thriving without heart disease.

I am 51 years old and have TWO stents in my arteries after two “mild” heart attacks. I ate the usual fast food, american diet. Whether, my CVD was caused by SATFATS or REFINDED FLOUR? or TONS OF OIL? …I dunno. Probably all three. Please read on.

After my first sent, in 2003, I started on the usual statin, low-fat lifestyle. But, after reading The Great Cholesterol Con and visiting http://www.westonaprice.org/ I was CONVINCED (just what I wanted to hear) this SATFAT thing was BS and I went on to joyfully eat copious amounts of butter, burgers, steaks, chicken, pork and any other kind of meat. Burgers twice a day? Why not? SATFAT is not gonna harm me. It’s ALL been a lie. Gorge yourself in SATFATS because they are harmless AND as the study shows above, there is “no relationship” between SATFATS and CVD.

Last month I had another mild heart attack and another stent put in my RCA.

Good times.

Now, AGAIN, was it the SATFATS? GENES? WHITE FLOUR? REFINED OILS? Not sure. But, after reading the above article, I am “reassured” that I can go right back to eating burgers..as fatty as I can get them. Right?

Isn’t that what the study and article implies?

I am currently following a low-fat NO OIL (none period) vegan diet promoted by the book PREVENT and REVERSE HEART DISEASE by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. Vegetables, fruit and whole grains. Only.

I won’t go into detail here, but his LONG TERM study of 18 patients with SEVERE, heart disease showed that following this way of eating STOPPED and REVERSED, yes I typed REVERSED, their heart disease. PROVEN. PERIOD. END OF STORY.

Trust me, I am NOT a “pro-animal” nut job. (although I do love my two german shepherds) In fact, if you (Chris) or any one else can show me a PROVEN diet, PROVEN, that allows me to eat beef, fish, chicken, pork or any other creature and will STOP and REVERSE MY HEART DISEASE, I will start chowing down on the nearest animal near me. (except my two german shepherds)

Unless and UNTIL there is such a diet that includes saturated fat (and oils) and can CURE me of my CVD. Then I don’t want to even BOTHER with the debate anymore. This diet will CURE me. Period.

For those of you who will undoubtably respond with, “..I never said that SATFATS are harmless!” or “…well you ate TOO much SATFAT.” Well, I say which is it? Moderation? Which could mean a moderate amount of CVD? Or, if you think it was the OILS and not the SATFATS, well olive oil has 2 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon. So are oils good or bad?

If you go by studies using the brachial artery tourniquet test, oils and satfats DO harm the endothelium of the the arteries.

Look, it may be unclear what EXACTLY are the foods that cause or contribute to heart disease, but, this diet that I am on is the ONLY diet, that I am aware of, that will stop and reverse heart disease.

Dave