High-Fat Diet Only Unhealthy When Combined With High-Carb

Filed under: Study — @ April 27, 2007

Dr. Tavis Campbell blasts fat, but completely ignores the carbs

I’m sure you’ve seen all the news stories out of Calgary, Alberta Canada over the past couple of days about this study showing how “dangerous” eating one high-fat meal supposedly causes to stress and high blood pressure, haven’t you? Can they really be THIS stupid?! Yeah, they can, and this flim-flam research is proof of that.

Lead researcher Dr. Tavis S. Campbell, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Calgary, along with his fellow researchers observed 30 healthy adults who fasted the night before consuming one of two predetermined meals:

A HIGH-FAT FAST FOOD BREAKFAST or
A LOW-FAT CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

Take a good hard look at this “high-fat” breakfast: A McDonald’s meal with a sausage McMuffin, an egg McMuffin, and two hash brown patties. EWWWW! Oh, my stomach’s churning just thinking about eating all of that! Incidentally, the “low-fat” breakfast was dry cereal with skim milk, a cereal fruit bar, fat-free yogurt, and a glass of orange juice. Yuck, that doesn’t sound very appetizing either!

Both of these meals had about 800 calories, but the “high-fat” meal consisted of 42g fat while the “low-fat” meal only had 1g fat. The researchers also added a sodium supplement to balance the salt differential between the two meals.

A couple of hours after the meal, the study participants were put through some stress tests to see how their body would react to both mental and physical stress. For example, they were asked to perform public speaking about a sensitive and personal subject as well as dipping their hand in ice water.

The researchers measured their cardiovascular response, including blood pressure, heart rate, and resistance within blood vessels. What they found was the “high-fat” study participants experienced higher blood pressure than those who ate the “low-fat” diet. They conducted the experiment twice to confirm the results.

Therefore, Dr. Campbell concluded that eating just one “high-fat” meal can induce stress which is a precursor to cardiovascular disease. In other words, the researchers believe it’s the fat that may bring on a heart attack or stroke.

But they would be just as wrong as this study on saturated fat from last year. Why? Learn all the sordid details by clicking here.