DECADES long warnings that saturated fat clogs arteries and causes heart disease are just “plain wrong”, three world-leading cardiologists have claimed.

By GILES SHELDRICK, Apr 26, 2017

They said scare stories that diary products like butter and full-fat milk pose health risks were misleading as was an obsession with counting cholesterol.

Instead, the best way to protect against stress and stave off killer coronary heart disease was simply to eat “real food” and take a brisk daily walk.

Respected cardiologists Dr Aseem Malhotra, Professor Rita Redberg, of UCSF School of Medicine, San Francisco and Pascal Meier of University Hospital Geneva and University College, London, said evidence suggests no association between saturated fat and heightened risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes or death.

They also claimed clinical trials showed inserting a stent to widen narrowed arteries had failed to reduce the risk of heart attack or death.

Their controversial views have sparked a huge row and put them on a collision course with the British Heart Foundation.

In an editorial published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine they claimed: “Decades of emphasis on the primacy of lowering cholesterol, as if this was an end in itself and driving a market of ‘proven to lower cholesterol’ and ‘low fat’ foods and medications, has been misguided.”

They argued a high total cholesterol to high density lipoprotein (HDL or so-called ‘good’ cholesterol) ratio was the best predictor of cardiovascular disease risk, rather than low density lipoprotein (LDL or so-called ‘bad’ cholesterol).

Their view is further vindication of the cure-all Mediterranean diet, which has long been considered a simple and easy way to slash the risk of fatal heart disease.

They said the ratio could be rapidly reduced with easy dietary changes, like replacing refined carbohydrates (white rice, bread and pasta) with healthy high-fat foods like nuts and olive oil. But the easiest way to beat coronary heart disease, which kills one in four people in the UK, is to take around 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day, three or more times a week.

Dr Malhotra, consultant cardiologist at Lister Hospital in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and advisor to the National Obesity Forum, said: “All in all, a healthy diet, regular exercise, and stress reduction will not only boost quality of life but will curb the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and all causes.

“It is time to shift the public health message in the prevention and treatment of coronary artery disease away from measuring serum lipids and reducing dietary saturated fat.

“Coronary artery disease is a chronic inflammatory disease and it can be reduced effectively by walking 22 minutes a day and eating real food.”

Scores of studies have shown eating like the Greeks with lashings of olive oil, nuts, fresh fish, fruit, greens and nuts, but little dairy or red meat, can slow mental decline.

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http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/heal...health-exercise