The last days of the low-fat diet fad
 

http://grist.org/scary-food/2011-03-...-fat-diet-fad/

But as Pollan points out, the idea that saturated fats are a less
healthy fat just isn’t true, as the picture is fairly complex. Indeed,
most foods are composed of a many different types of fats. For
example, half the fat found in beef is unsaturated and most of that
fat is the same monounsaturated fat found in olive oil. Lard is 60
percent unsaturated and most of the fat in chicken fat is unsaturated
as well, according to Taubes 2008 book Good Calories, Bad Calories. In
his New York Times article he writes, “Even saturated fats — AKA, the
bad fats — are not nearly as deleterious as you would think. True,
they will elevate your bad cholesterol, but they will also elevate
your good cholesterol. In other words, it’s a virtual wash.” Taubes
continues, “Foods considered more or less deadly under the low-fat
dogma turn out to be comparatively benign if you actually look at
their fat content. More than two-thirds of the fat in a porterhouse
steak, for instance, will definitively improve your cholesterol
profile (at least in comparison with the baked potato next to it);
it’s true that the remainder will raise your L.D.L., the bad stuff,
but it will also boost your H.D.L. The same is true for lard. If you
work out the numbers, you come to the surreal conclusion that you can
eat lard straight from the can and conceivably reduce your risk of
heart disease.”

Yet another illustration of why "consensus," when it pertains to
science, means absolutely nothing.

Zero. Nada. Zilch.

Beware of consensus!

--
Dogman

"I have approximate answers and possible beliefs in different degrees of certainty
about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything" - Richard Feynman