saturated versus unsaturated fats today. We make sense of this controversy on fats once and for all. Saturated fat is concentrated in animal foods like cheese, butter, and meat, and some plant products like coconut oil, while unsaturated fat is concentrated in nuts, seeds, avocado, and most oils, like olive oil. But the health effects of each is where things get controversial. We've known for a long time that saturated fat raises our cholesterol levels, but that's just a marker. What we really want to know is do people get actual heart disease. Classical studies linked saturated fat and heart disease, so saturated fat was widely seen as a problem until a few years ago. A media storm rocked the nutrition world. Was saturated fat fine after all? Had it all been a lie? It even made the cover of Time magazine. So what was that hoopla all about? Two studies looked at people's eating habits. People eating different amounts of saturated fat had similar rates of cardiovascular disease. So how can we

make sense of this? I mean, it seems so confusing. One study says one thing; another study says something else. Don't ever be intimidated by science. It's usually a lot simpler than it seems. Say I want to find out if soda is fattening. I ask people about their soda-drinking habits, and I also weigh them. I find out that people drinking three cups of soda a day are not significantly heavier than those drinking one cup a day. Did I prove soda is not fattening? It's not hard to see the flaws, right? Maybe people lied, or maybe the light soda drinkers also ate a Twinkie and a lollipop. I was so focused on the soda I didn't even bother to ask them what else they eat. I jumped to a conclusion. Okay, back to saturated fat. It's the exact same logic. In those studies that made the headlines around the world, people eating less saturated fat had as

much cardiovascular disease as those eating more of it. Maybe saturated fat is not a factor, or maybe they're eating other bad stuff instead. How can we figure this out? We have to find out what else they eat, of course. That's exactly what Harvard researchers did. They found that people who eat less saturated fat and more unsaturated fat instead have lower cardiovascular risk. Those who eat more whole grains instead, things like oatmeal or brown rice, also had lower risk. But those who ate more refined grains instead (white bread, white pasta, sugary cereal, cookies, etc.), their risk was the same. Just as bad as saturated fat. This makes total sense. If you lump it all together, it's much harder to see a difference, especially because most people in our society eat way more of this than this. So did that study make the cover of Time? Take a wild guess. Why wouldn't the media be just as excited about that one? It's more

informative, it's a landmark study. Is it because the media is evil? Is it because they're all plotting to give us heart disease? No, it's because it's a less shocking result, so it's less profitable. Eat butter gets clicks and eyeballs. Oh never mind, eat fruits and vegetables like they've told you for 50 years, not so much. Now, we're looking at all this not to feel superior or to bust out the fake media hashtags but to protect ourselves. The next time you see that headline Forget everything you thought you knew about food. Everybody was wrong, you know what they're doing. You don't need to get all confused and throw your hands up. Come on! One day a food is good, the next day it's bad. These scientists can't agree on anything. You know what? Hey Randy, pass the deep-fried chicken heads! Yeah, with the cotton candy around it! See if I care!

hold on. That Harvard study looked at people's eating habits. So maybe they eat less saturated fat (less meat and cheese) because they're health freaks, and maybe they also smoke less and they exercise more. How do we know the saturated fat had anything to do with them being healthier? This is why this type of study looking at people's normal eating habits is interesting but not super convincing by itself, because there's many factors at play. Looking at a study like this out of context leaves people confused, as we've seen in the past. Now, if you watched last week's video on olive oil, you know where we're going with this. What we need to do is split people randomly and tell half to eat less saturated fat and see what happens. A brand new study published last month did exactly that. Except they didn't do it once. They pooled 15 studies that did it. What did they find? The group that was told to eat less saturated fat had less

cardiovascular disease. It wasn't entirely clear which replacement was best, but less saturated fat led to less risk. Chocolate is an interesting exception we'll look at in a minute. Also important, they found no harmful effects of reducing saturated fat, which is crucial because we want to weigh the pros and cons. Now, this issue of saturated fat always raises a lot of emotion and gets people very upset, but it doesn't have to. People are free to heed the studies or completely ignore them. That's the beauty of science. It informs our decisions, but it doesn't impose anything. I used to eat a lot more saturated fat growing up, and then I became familiar with this information, and I gradually adapted. Others might make a different decision. No hard feelings. This is also why I make sure to go over the studies and the logic on all my videos. I know that as soon as I show the first study, half the people go ah, boring, let me go back to cat videos. I

mean, I know that. I could just give you two lists, here's the good foods and the bad foods. That wouldn't help you because as soon as this video is over, you're gonna watch another video, right? Of the ones suggested over here, by someone else, that's gonna tell you the exact opposite saturated fat is totally fine eat as much as you want, no problem and you still remain confused. So prescriptive videos don't really help. The only way forward is for you to understand a little bit why things are the way they are behind the curtains. Okay, what does this all mean for our day-to-day life? It means favoring unprocessed plant foods which are low in saturated and high in unsaturated fats. I know some of my viewers are exclusively plant-based, others are omnivores, others are plant curious. All of those patterns are compatible with health. The key are the dietary staples. What constitutes the bulk of your diet. What you do once in a

while is our little secret for people who do want to include some animal products. Fish is a wise option because that balance of saturated/unsaturated fats is better than a lot of other options. And I know people are gonna ask about chocolate. Interestingly, the main type of saturated fat in chocolate is called stearic acid and it's unusual. It doesn't raise cholesterol. Most studies actually suggest health benefits of eating chocolate although it's not 100% clear yet. The best form is probably cocoa powder which is high in antioxidants and low in fat preferably unsweetened. Second-best is dark chocolate. The more cocoa and the less sugar and fat the better. Chocolate is less of a concern than many of the other sources of saturated fat anyway because people are having it as an occasional treat not a full meal right? I mean who would do such a thing? If you google saturated fat you'll find

people saying there's no problem at all and others saying it's bad, period. Clearly, the balance of evidence is somewhere in the middle. Some types of saturated fat are worse than others, and of course, amount matters. At the end of the day, we want to think in terms of foods, not isolated nutrients. A food is a complex package of many components that all work together. A lot of people get bogged down with the technicalities and lose track of the big picture. It's easier to build our menu from the top down: which dietary patterns are health-promoting? And go from there. If you want more details on how to build an entire dietary pattern low in saturated fat and high in unsaturated fats, this video covers everything you need to know, A to Z.

Saturated vs Unsaturated Fat | Eat or Avoid?

Saturated vs Unsaturated Fat | Eat or Avoid?