You may have been following the stories on TV and in the newspapers over the last year or so, that saturated fat – the fat in meat, eggs and full cream dairy including butter – isn’t bad for you after all, so go for it!
Just what we wanted to hear.
Best not to rush back to a high saturated fat diet though, because the research that has given saturated fats the green light has been found to be flawed. There are, in fact, decades of studies, which have shown that saturated fats increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes and even bowel cancer. That’s made experts wonder how some researchers have concluded that lowering saturated fat intake doesn’t help your chances of heart disease? So they went back to studies of several hundred thousand nurses and doctors whose health has been followed since the 1980s and what they found was fascinating. What counted was what people replaced saturated fats with in their diet.
People who traded the fatty steak or butter for pasta, white rice or sugary foods – refined carbohydrates – got no benefit. That’s because refined carbs in excess aren’t good for you. If however, the trade off was for unprocessed or complex carbs or oils like olive or canola (mono and polyunsaturated fats), then they did see the expected reduction in heart disease.
So it’s about trade offs and saturated fat is toxic after all. Sorry about that, you butter addicts.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Australia. It affects around one in six people and comes with a significant social and economic burden. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease, so efforts to reduce blood pressure on a large scale could help reduce rates of heart disease. Salt over-consumption plays a substantial role in increasing blood pressure. The average Australian consumes around 9g of salt per day despite recommendations to limit intake to 5g or less. Evidence suggests that even a modest reduction in salt intake can lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease. Researchers in Northern China initiated a primary school education programme designed to educate children about reducing their own and their families’ salt intake and analysed what effect this had on salt consumption and blood pressure.
The program taught children about the harmful effects of consuming too much salt and encouraged them to educate and support their families to reduce the amount of salt used at home. Children in grade five from primary schools in urban Changzhi were allocated to one of two groups. The intervention group received salt education and materials in addition to their typical health education classes, and received educational materials for their families to encourage them to use less salt when cooking. The control group received standard health education classes.
At the conclusion of the 3.5 month program, the students in the intervention group and their families had a 26% reduction in salt intake compared to the control group.
The results of this study are encouraging and, if maintained over time, could be effective in helping to lower the risk of heart disease. Education programs such as this can be applied on a large scale to have a large impact on the population. Furthermore, educating children from a young age can help to instil good health habits that will persist throughout their lives.
For reference: He, F J et al. School based education programme to reduce salt intake in children and their families (School-EduSalt): cluster randomised controlled trial. BMJ 2015;350:h770 doi=10.1136/bmj.h770
The skin is the largest organ of the human body and the most exposed to the outside world. It helps protect people against the invasion of infections and germs but contains an array of bacteria of its own, which help maintain the health of the skin and also defend against more harmful strains of bacteria that have the potential to cause disease. However, the skin is also subject to chemicals from everyday life including from our clothing, beauty products and chemicals from the outside world like dust, dirt and pollution. Researchers have conducted research to see what chemical residues can be found on the skin and whether or not this affects the type of bacteria that live on the skin.
Two healthy volunteers were asked not to shower or apply any beauty or hygiene products for three days. Swabs were then taken from over 400 places across the surface of the skin and analysed.
Large numbers of chemical residues were found on the skin from shampoos, sunscreens and deodorants. The results showed that the most contaminated areas of the skin were the scalp and upper shoulders. The analysis suggested that the types of chemicals found on the skin could change the bacteria that live there.
Further research is needed to tease out the link between skin bacteria, chemicals and health outcomes however this provides interesting insight into the potential affects of different everyday products on our skin and how this could influence the health of our skin and overall wellbeing.
For reference: Bouslimani, A et al. Molecular cartography of the human skin surface in 3D. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 2015; 112:2120-9.
