Cheese is good for you: study

Cheese is good for you: study
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Cheese Is Good For You: Study

An Ancient wisdom enshrined in ayurvedic is back again. Butter is not as bad for heart. A new study has shown that butter and cheese are not bad for heart. Ayurvedic too advocates use of butter in limited quantities and some of the medicines are butter based even now.

The study is done by Aseem Malhotra, Indian interventional cardiology specialist registrar at Croydon University Hospital at London. It is published in the British Medical journal (BMJ) says cheese and red meat too are not bad for the heart as they are made out to be.

Cheese Is Good For You: Study
However trans-fads found in many fast foods, bakery goods and margarine are indeed a problem Malhotra said in a write up in BMJ. Stating that the time has come to bust the myth on saturated fats, the interventional cardiologist said that the insistence that saturated fat must be removed from our diet has paradoxically increased the risk of cardiovascular disease.

“Recent prospective cohort studies have not supported significant association between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular risk” he argues.”Instead, saturated fats have been found to be protective,” Malhotra said in his research paper.

Says Malhotra: Butter and Cheese are better than low fat spreads. Why are natural dairy products good? They contain vitamin D, a lack of which has been linked to increased heart disease and calcium and phosphorus, which may have blood pressure lowering effects.

Eating processed meat has been linked to higher rates of heart disease and diabetes, but not red meat. The doctor said people have been wrongly told that low fat products are good for their health or will help them loose weight. But such foods are full of sugar. One must be conscious and careful while taking low fat drinks.

According to Malhotra each 450 ml flavoured milk contained about 15 teaspoon of sugar, which meant one would consume 75 teaspoons of sugar each day.

Malhotra and growing group of doctors think that sugar is a leading cause of obesity and heart disease, not cholesterol. Real foods, rather natural food, including saturated fats, are good. But when natural foods get mixed with processed foods and sugar, the risk factors increase.

People blame cholesterol for it. Which is actual culprit, saturated fat or added sugar? The American Heart Association has overwhelmingly voted in favor of sugar and that too many time over. Plus added sugar causes all of the disease associated with metabolic syndrome.

He has also thrown a shadow of doubt over statins-drugs used to lower cholesterol. Apart from busting the myths around butter and cheese, the cardiologist also said statins have been over prescribed because of an obsession with lowering cholesterol in an attempt to reduce heart disease. But the side effects outweigh the benefits for many patients who take them away every day.

Some of the side effects of statins include muscle pain, stomach upsets, sleep and memory disturbance, and erectile dysfunction.

Instead of statins, people with cardiovascular risk should eat a Mediterranean diet, rich in olive oil, fruits, vegetables, fish and nuts. Studies have shown that adopting a Mediterranean diet after a heart attack is three times more effective in preventing further illness than statins.
Instead of lowering serum cholesterol with statins, which is dubious at best, go in for a few servings of some real food.

But neither Public Health England nor the British Heart Foundation is ready to buy malhotra’s argument.
They say studies on the link between diet and disease frequently produce conflicting results because, unlike drug trails, it’s difficult to undertake a properly controlled, randomized study.

The other side of the story is that cholesterol levels can be influenced by numerous factors including diet, exercise and drugs, in particular statins.

Things cannot be taken in isolation. There is a need to combine other essential measures such as eating a balanced diet, not smoking and taking regular exercise

Real food, rather natural food, including saturated fat, is good. But when natural foods get mixed with processed foods and sugar, the risk factors increase. And people blame cholesterol for it.


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