The American Heart Association was formed in 1924 and didn’t become well known until 1948 when the maker of Crisco (Proctor and Gamble) gave them over a million dollars related to a Proctor and Gamble sponsored radio contest. Interestingly, they started promoting Crisco as being heart healthy after this time. In other words, the American Heart Association started calling cholesterol bad when the companies selling vegetable oils started to make donations. The organization grew quickly with this support and they even used President Eisenhower’s heart attack in 1955 to put fear in the American people. They suggested that the reason for his heart attack was all the butter he had eaten. They neglected to mention that he was a chain smoker. The process of hydrogenation was introduced in 1911 and heart disease (although rare before this) has been on the increase since that time.
Despite the fact that there is no research that proves that eating a diet low in saturated fat will increase your health, a low saturated fat diet is still being promoted. When you look deep into the research you will notice that people on the saturated fat diets fared much better than the people on the vegetable oil diet. There was reduction in cholesterol in the vegetable oil eaters, but there was no evidence that suggested that lower cholesterol reduced heart attacks. Thankfully there are a lot of people waking up and understanding the lies that have been told over the years. The more I learn, the less I trust man. While I believe there are some good things the American Heart Association does, I don’t completely trust them. We are going to continue to stick to a traditional diet of food that is properly prepared, nutrient dense, chemical free, and we don’t even need a lab to prepare it! Have you done your own research on this topic? We love to hear from you!
An important consideration is the Omega 3/6 ratio of fats. The modern American diet has increased the Omega 6 and decreased the Omega 3. Grass finished beef, lamb, pastured eggs and poultry, and pastured dairy products all have much higher Omega 3 content than conventionally produced products. Many vegetable oils are high in Omega 6. More Omega 3 and less Omega 6 can increase HDL (the good cholesterol).
In my own experience I raised my HDL from 35 to 52 in one year by increasing consumption of Omega 3 and decreasing products high in Omega 6. I did not eat less meat or fats as some would recommend, but I did change my sources of meats, eggs, and dairy products to grass finished and grass fed products.
Thank you so much for sharing this! I agree that it so critical to get the omega 3s through pastured meat, eggs, and dairy! I wish I would have included this in the post. Very important information!!