The idea that saturated fat is bad for you is a complete joke and it's frankly embarrassing that so many smart people are still duped by it. Human beings have been hunting and eating animals (mostly ruminants, which are predominantly GASP saturated fat) for hundreds of thousands of years, if not longer. Yet the rates we see heart disease, cancer, diabetes (so-called diseases of civilization) have never been more prevalent than in recent years. Doesn't that suggest the cause is something other than unjustly vilified saturated fat?
And a secondary cause: extension of the life expectancy; people who die at 40 from an infection or an accident, cannot die from cancer or a heart attack at 55.
The importance of saturated fats as a factor in the extension or reduction of life expectancy is orders of magnitude lower than the former two.
> Human beings have been hunting and eating animals ... for hundreds of thousands of years,
This seems a bad argument. Our lifestyles, diet compositions, bodies, ability to diagnose medical illness or cause of death, understanding of nutrition, and lifespans have all gone through several revolutions throughout the years.
The clickbait headline of the article ("pure poison") and and author's comments were inflammatory, which is likely what you're reacting too. However the article does go on to talk about the link between saturated fat as a well-known risk factor for heart disease.
Given the lifestyle trend of humans toward more sedentary living than our hunting/gathering ancestors, suggesting people of today be careful about limiting their intake of saturated fats is a good thing.
But there is absolutely no evidence that saturated fat causes any of the diseases of civilization. Why should people limit their intake of it?
Did early hunter-gatherer populations count calories? I don't think they did and I don't think counting calories is necessary or sufficient for health. If you eat real food (such as... animal fats) you will naturally become satiated enough and know when it's time to stop.
> But there is absolutely no evidence that saturated fat causes any of the diseases of civilization. Why should people limit their intake of it?
This is indisputably wrong. There is a mountain of evidence linking the consumption of saturated fat to cardiovascular disease. The article linked to a recent summary study from the American Heart association. Plenty of others are a simple google search away.
