TUESDAY,
APR 28, 2015 07:35 PM MEDT
5
“unhealthy” foods we got all wrong
Eggs. Butter. Red meat.
Consumed in moderation, all of these foods' health benefits outweigh the risks
LARRY SCHWARTZ, ALTERNET
(Credit: Shutterstock/Valentina Proskurina)
This
article originally appeared on AlterNet.
Remember when eggs were bad for us before they were good for us?
Or when certain heart disease was the devil’s bargain we made for loving a good
cheeseburger? You may be excused for the vertigo you experience from all the
flip-flops, twists and turns written over the years about the goodness or
badness of any number of foods. For all of the “scientific” studies of
nutrition and health, the bottom line is that we knowsomething about
the food we eat. But truthfully, the science behind what we ingest and how it
affects our health is in its infancy.
There are numerous reasons
why we are get conflicting information, partly because of how some journalists
interpret scientific reports. Most reputable research papers are broken down
the same way. There is an introduction/background, a methods section explaining
how the research was performed, a results section, discussion/conclusion, and
finally a summary. Journalists for the most part, not being scientists and on
tight deadlines, read only the summary, which may have less scientific jargon
and be more readily digestible than the rest of the paper. Many a journalist
has fallen prey to accepting the summary without delving into the particulars.
The result is a headline that screams Coffee Is Great for Your Health! when
it should have said Coffee Is Great for Your
Health—If You are Middle Class, Have Health Insurance, Don’t Smoke, Exercise,
and Your Parents Don’t Have Cancer!
The problem is not always the journalism. Some studies are deeply
flawed. Other studies cannot be duplicated and are therefore discredited.
Sometimes the sample of people studied is too small. And then there are the
studies sponsored by industries that have vested interests in the outcome.
Dietician Andy Bellatti wrote on Lifehacker, that:
“…increasingly, food companies are setting up ‘institutes’ (i.e.
Coca-Cola’s Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness, General Mills’ Bell
Institute) that are essentially PR efforts that oh-so-coincidentally frame
these companies’ products as healthful (or, in the case of soda, in no way
problematic from a health standpoint).
“To make matters more
confusing, these institutes have doctors, cardiologists, and dietitians on
their payroll—as well as key media contacts—resulting in a health professional
talking to media about, say, how soda is ‘unfairly vilified.’ Most times, the
general public isn’t aware that this isn’t an objective health professional
choosing to say that.”
Whatever the reason, once corrected, a study may come to
conclusions that are diametrically opposed to previous studies.
Here are five nutritional flip-flops, and a few more where the
jury is still out.
1. Eggs. There was a time not very long ago when eggs were looked upon as
cardiovascular time bombs. High in dietary cholesterol, it was said that eating
a lot of eggs would result in gummed-up arteries and a high risk of heart
attack. Most recent studies, however, cast these assumptions aside. Unless you
are diabetic, there is no evidence that dietary
cholesterol results in plaque building up in your arteries
(studies on diabetics have shown possible correlation but nothing definitive).
In addition to protein, eggs contain lots of great nutrition,
including omega-3s and B-vitamins.
Bottom line: Eat your eggs.
2. Saturated fat/red
meat. Good and bad news about
saturated fat has been bouncing to and fro like a ping-pong ball for several
decades. One of our primary sources of saturated fat is red meat (burgers,
steaks, beef hot dogs and the like). From the early- to mid-20th century,
we were encouraged to consume lots of meat because it was a great source of
protein, B vitamins and numerous other nutrients. However, in the 1960s,
studies began to link saturated fat with heart disease and cancer.
Back and forth the argument
went, as conflicting studies linked and unlinked the dangers of red meat
consumption. People read and worried, accepted that meat was bad (although did
not stop eating it), and rejoiced whenever news came out that maybe meat was
OK. In 2014, a study out of Harvard, comprised of over one million people,
found no link between the consumption of unprocessed red meat and either heart
disease or diabetes. Another studyout of Europe of over 450,000 individuals came to the same
conclusion.
However, both of these
studies did find a link between processed meat (hot dogs, cold cuts and the like) and
disease.
Bottom line: If you want a
burger, eat one, but think twice about that salami (processed meat)
sandwich. But health reasons aside, the consumption of meat in the world
sustains factory-farming of animals, which is the source ofhorrendous misery for billions of cows and pigs
and is literally killing the planet because of the carbon, air and land
pollution it creates. If you are concerned about that, and you should be, cut
down on your meat consumption or stick to meat obtained from sustainable farming
practices.
3. Butter. Butter’s stock has gone up and down for 150 years. As far back as
1855, people were told to use oil instead of butter. Like a
close-fought basketball game, the duel between margarine and butter has been
classic, but it seems that butter has finally gained the upper hand.
The main beef against butter has mostly been that it is a
saturated fat, which with prolonged consumption, would cause cardiovascular
disease. The Harvard study referenced above seems to have put that fear to
rest, and in fact it is margarine, with its high trans fat content, which
studies have shown is the heart disease enabler.
Meanwhile, butter is a good
source of fat-soluble vitamins like A, E and K2, and actually raises the good
HDL level in your blood, while lowering the bad LDL. As for the extra calories?
No worries. A 2012 study concluded there was no correlation
between high fat dairy and obesity.
Bottom line: Butter your toast. But remember most dairy you
consume comes from factory farms, so try to buy butter that comes from
grass-fed cows.
4. Coffee. For many years, coffee was the victim of flawed studies linking it
to cancer and heart disease. Problem was, these studies did not take into
account other factors, like coffee-drinkers might also be cigarette smokers.
The result was that many people gave up coffee, albeit reluctantly.
It turns out that the dark side of coffee was greatly exaggerated.
Yes, there are negative aspects of coffee. It is addictive, so if you want to
stop, be prepared for a couple days of wicked headaches. It is a stimulant, so
if you overdo it, expect to be tossing and turning in bed. If you are pregnant,
don’t overdo it. There is some small correlation (not causation) between coffee
and miscarriages, but opinion is nowhere near what it used to be, and most
doctors now think a small cup or two a day, even if you are pregnant, is not a
problem.
Now for the good stuff.
Coffee is loaded with antioxidants (in fact, some Westerners actually get more
antioxidants from coffee than from fruits and vegetables). Coffee enhances
brain function (as do most stimulants), may protect your brain from
degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s andParkinson’s, and may ward off Type 2 diabetes and even liver cancer. Want more? There are studies linking
coffee to a lower risk of depression and suicide and to
a longer lifespan. (It is important to note that
these studies are not causative, i.e. they do not show coffee causes a
reduction in disease, only that those who drink coffee seem to have less
disease.)
Bottom line: A cup of joe, please.
5. Avocados. Only a few decades ago the avocado was considered a sinful treat.
As studies coming out in the 1970s and ’80s extolled the dangers of fat, the
poor avocado suffered in silence as it was swept up in the low-fat tsunami of
scientific opinion.
What we know now, is that the creamy fruit (yes, it is a fruit,
not a vegetable) is a source of mono-saturated fat that does not clog your
arteries or increase your cholesterol level, and in fact helps sweep away the
bad LDL in your blood.
Bottom line: Eat as much guacamole as your heart desires.
On the Fence
Red wine: For a long time, scientists struggled with the so-called French
paradox. Why is it that the French, whose diet includes lots of saturated fats,
still manage to have less heart disease than Americans? The answer, researchers
declared, was red wine. Red wine contains an ingredient calledresveratrol, which studies point to as an active agent
in protecting the cardiovascular system. Wine drinkers celebrated and drank a
lot of wine, secure in the knowledge that they were doing their heart a solid.
Alas, it seems we jumped the gun, or goblet as it were. More recent research
has shown that the amount of resveratrol in the bodies of wine drinkers was not
sufficient to provide any cardiovascular protection.
Since we now know that saturated fat is not the grim reaper we
thought it was, it would seem that the lower level of heart disease in France
would have other causative factors. A more likely cause, we now believe,
is the higher amount of fresh fruits and vegetables that the French consume, as
well as the lower amount of processed foods.
Bottom line: Drink up, but not to excess. A glass or two of wine a
day might not protect your heart directly, but it certainly reduces stress and
that’s a good thing. More than a couple glasses, though, and you are doing your
body more harm than good.
Salt: Considered a contributor to high blood pressure and resulting
heart attack and stroke risk, Americans have long been advised to limit their
salt intake to about 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day (about a teaspoon of
salt). Since we routinely consume over 3,500 milligrams a day, salt has been
considered a major culprit contributing to America’s cardiovascular woes.
Here’s the thing, though:
when we limit our salt intake, the resulting blood pressure drop is generally
minimal (120/80 may drop to 118/79), not really enough to make much difference.
And limiting salt too much has its own risks, since the human body needs salt
to function properly. Now a major study, called the PURE study, published
in the New England Journal of Medicine has concluded that there is insufficient
evidence to show that limiting salt intake has any effect on health. Moreover,
people in the study who limited their salt intake had more heart trouble than those who did not. There
is still debate going on over the PURE results, and the American Heart
Association, as well as the American government, has stuck to its guns that
limiting salt is the better choice, but it would seem that the old orthodoxy
may be cracking just a bit.
Bottom line: If you have very high blood pressure, limiting your
salt intake might be the wise choice (for the moment, anyway), but the
occasional potato chip shouldn’t overly concern you. For people without blood
pressure issues, worrying about salt might raise your blood pressure more than
the salt you are unnecessarily worrying about.
Sorry, These Are Still Bad For
Us
Bacon: Unprocessed meat good. Processed meat bad. Because of the good news
about saturated fat, bacon lovers of the world rejoiced, and there have been
numerous articles claiming bacon is now good for you. Sorry, bacon lovers, but
bacon is a cured, processed meat. There is plenty of evidence linking
consumption of processed meats to heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
Bottom line: No scientific flip-flop on bacon. Bacon tastes great
and is very bad for you.
Sugar: It’s bad for you. It was then, it is now. And it’s not just the
tooth decay or the obesity or the diabetic risk; studies increasingly point to sugar as a culprit
in inflammation, which may link to autoimmune diseases, cancer, heart disease,
and more.
Bottom line: Sugar tastes so good, and it is hidden in so many
foods. But cut down on the sweet stuff.
The overall takeaway is
that today’s good food may be tomorrow’s bad food. So listen to the old saw:
everything in moderation. And no matter what, no one will ever say too many fruits and veggies are bad for
you. Eat lots of those and you really won’t need to worry too much about the
rest.
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