'Traffic light' health labels on food to tackle Britain's obesity epidemic

[Shaqui]

Some would say that saturated fats and blood cholesterol are not closley linked despite what we have been told. Many appear to find that a low carb diet with a sensible amount of fat improves the LDL/HDL ratio; it's not total cholesterol that matters but the ratio of LDL/HDL.

I was told my 'bad cholesterol' was at a reasonable level but that combined with the diabetes and my BMI put me at a higher risk of a heart attack/stroke. As diabetes can't be cured, only controlled, lowering fat would lower that risk.

 

[Northerner]

I was told my 'bad cholesterol' was at a reasonable level but that combined with the diabetes and my BMI put me at a higher risk of a heart attack/stroke. As diabetes can't be cured, only controlled, lowering fat would lower that risk.

There's a growing body of scientific opinion that carbohydrates, not fat, are responsible for elevated cholesterol levels. Fat has been vilified for decades, yet people, despite observing the warnings and manufacturers going for 'low fat' products (and increasing carbohydrate/sugars at the same time), have consistently been getting fatter and fatter. It's worth reading The Great Cholesterol Con to get an alternative perspective on cholesterol 🙂

 

[heasandford]

Just a word of caution - it is overall health being considered as well. There is ample evidence that there is a relationship between saturated fat intake and breast cancer for instance.

Carbohydrates are the basis of modern diet originally because they were the environmentally cheap way of keeping mankind alive, before the health industry and food industry got involved. It costs more to produce fat - time, effort etc

All of the information out there has various truths, but the scientific evidence has not yet come down on the side of cutting out carbohydrates. I still think that BALANCE is the best description yet for life in general!

I expect to get some friendly disagreement!