We Can Eat Fat Again (and Live Longer) – with the Blessing of Medicine!

Scanning the journals is my favourite section in BMJ. This time the tone is "humble", as Medicine is coming around, slowly, to accept that previous guidelines established on so-called "evidence" were, once more, flawed. The topic is fats.

1. Eating fats is related to lower total mortality and does not affect cardiovascular disease! As I have been telling my clients for years, it is those carbs that are doing the damage – sugars especially. The message is: we can abandon the "saturated fat-cardiovascular disease" hypothesis with some certainty.

2. High fruit, vegetable and legume intake were associated with a lower risk of non-cardiovascular and total mortality! A diet high in veggies, fish, oils and seeds and low in sugars serve as extra health insurance, without the premiums. Ignore it to your peril. Lancet: 10.1016/S0140-6736

3. It is no longer necessary to monitor the blood cholesterol and lipids of those on statins as it makes no difference to decision making. We can guess what is coming next: The pointless nature of lowering the lipids with statins. JAMA 10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.3954