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Did you have a full Irish for breakfast this morning? Are you feeling a little guilty about it? You’ve heard it for many years, how all of the saturated fats associated with sausages, fried food, burgers, and so on, are not good for your health.
They will build up your bad cholesterol levels, increasing chances of strokes and heart disease. So minimise those fry-ups, at all costs.
But if you were tucking into that jumbo breakfast roll this morning, you might have taken some comfort from newspaper and radio reports of an article published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
The article was presented by Cardiologists Dr Aseem Malhotra, Professor Rita Redberg and Pascal Meier, and they insist that decades of research demonstrating that such foods can clog up the arteries and induce heart disease are just "plain wrong".
On Today with Sean O’Rourke, Janis Morrissey, Dietitian and Head of Health Promotion at the Irish Heart Foundation, was scathing of their views.
‘It’s nothing we haven’t heard before, refuting decades of good quality evidence, saying that in fact, saturated fat doesn’t increase cholesterol, and isn’t an issue in terms of diet and health.’
One of the cardiologists who authored the article in question, Dr Aseem Malhotra, claimed earlier on Morning Ireland that the war on saturated fat arose from collusion between vested interests in university researchers, charities, the pharmaceutical industry and the food industry.
‘People’s careers have been built upon research, which is now being shown to be flawed.’ Instead, they say, we should be thinking about inflammation, choosing a low sugar diet, focusing on physical activity and reducing stress.
Responding, Janis Morrissey, outlined her position, opening with a salvo and that accusation of ‘vested interest’.
‘The Irish Heart Foundation, our vested interest is the public and patients’ heart health. That’s where we’re coming from. I certainly would refute his allegations and wonder what evidence he has to support them.’
According to Janis Morrissey, there is very strong evidence to prove a link between having a diet high in saturated fat and increasing your bad cholesterol. It is well-established, she says, that this type of diet, and this bad cholesterol, increases your risk of heart attacks and strokes, and that such conclusion is backed up by decades of good quality research.
‘What Dr Malhotra is saying is underpinned by very poor quality research, very selectively chosen. And ultimately, just adding to more confusion in the public mind.’
More information on diet and heart health can be found on the website of the Irish Heart Foundation.
And to listen to the full interview, click here.
