Robert F Kennedy Jr, the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, who is known for his radical beliefs on vaccines and other health-related issues, is making headlines again, this time by claiming that he will encourage Americans to consume more saturated fat, contrary to the dietary recommendations of experts around the world.
Kennedy says he will issue dietary guidelines for Americans that will “emphasize the need to eat saturated dairy fat, good meats, fresh meats and vegetables … when we release them, it will give everyone a reason to get them into our schools,” according to the Hill report.
Most scientists and nutritionists are concerned about the news, while some are waiting for the actual guidelines and their content.
A professor at the University of California, San Diego, told the Guardian: “My response and advice to myself was to stay calm and see what happens because there was no indication of how, why, when this potential shift would happen,” adding: “The saturated fat recommendation has been one of the most consistent recommendations since the Dietary Guidelines were first published.
A professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, who has researched saturated fat and found that it’s not as harmful as previously thought, also said that if “(Kennedy) actually comes out and says we should eat more saturated fat, I think that’s a really bad message.”
According to Krauss’s research, if someone replaces saturated fat in their diet with carbohydrates and sugars, their chances of heart disease increase.
What are saturated fats? What are their health effects?
Saturated fats are a type of dietary fat that, along with trans fats, are unhealthy fats. These fats are found in oil, butter and red meat and can remain solid at room temperature.
Eating too much saturated fat causes cholesterol to build up in the arteries, raising LDL cholesterol levels. This increases the risk of stroke as well as heart disease.
What are the Dietary Guidelines for Americans?
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans is a US government recommendation issued every five years that recommends what a healthy American should eat based on the latest research.
The final guidelines have not yet been published.
If the guidelines are what Kennedy says they are, they will impact school lunches and military rations in the US.
The percentage of saturated fat recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health is less than or equal to 10% of total calories in the diet.
