Want a healthier heart? Eat a steak

[Vince]

I'm a cardiologist — and I encourage patients to eat red meat.

This advice defies conventional wisdom. For decades, nutritionists and physicians have urged people to limit consumption of red meat and other fatty foods, which were thought to cause heart disease.

But new studies debunk this conventional wisdom. Indeed, it now looks like low-quality carbohydrates — not saturated fats — are driving America's heart disease epidemic. It's time to stop demonizing steak.

Want a healthier heart? Eat a steak [Opinion]

 

[Vince]

Here’s his blog​ Here’s his podcast​ Here’s his YouTube channel​ Want a Healthy Heart? Eat a Steak.​ Here’s his general Google page​

 

[Airborne Warrior]

I've recently had to come off my keto diet which was mostly made up of red meat as my LDL was through the roof. I know a few on keto who don't suffer with high cholesterol though. Guess I'm just unlucky.

 

[Vince]

I don't know if this was the case for you. When a person loses weight it will cause a temporary increase in LDL cholesterol. Then when a person weight stabilizes the LDL cholesterol drops. Many people have told me this has happened to them.

 

[captain]

I've recently had to come off my keto diet which was mostly made up of red meat as my LDL was through the roof. I know a few on keto who don't suffer with high cholesterol though. Guess I'm just unlucky.

This happens to people with diabetes.

 

[Jinzang]

I know this is a contentious issue, but the Cochrane Review, the most trusted source on independent medical reviews, has looked at the subject and concluded saturated fat does play a role in heart disease. You can read their review of the studies on saturated fat and heart disease online. Here is their conclusion:

"The findings of this updated review are suggestive of a small but potentially important reduction in cardiovascular risk on reduction of saturated fat intake. Replacing the energy from saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat appears to be a useful strategy, and replacement with carbohydrate appears less useful, but effects of replacement with monounsaturated fat were unclear due to inclusion of only one small trial. This effect did not appear to alter by study duration, sex or baseline level of cardiovascular risk. Lifestyle advice to all those at risk of cardiovascular disease and to lower risk population groups should continue to include permanent reduction of dietary saturated fat and partial replacement by unsaturated fats. The ideal type of unsaturated fat is unclear."

 

[Tommy Wall]

Asians and Italians eat a lot of rice and pasta do they have a higher risk of diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease?

 

[captain]

That it does for South Asians. I have been low carb steak diet for 20 years and just did a stress test.
Result
No signs of coronary artery disease per the stress test.

 

[Airborne Warrior]

This happens to people with diabetes.

I've just been looking at the symptoms of type 2 diabetes and I've quite a lot of them. To that end I have made an appointment to be checked out. Thank you.

 

[Dansk]

Asians and Italians eat a lot of rice and pasta do they have a higher risk of diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease?

That it does for South Asians. I have been low carb steak diet for 20 years and just did a stress test.
Result
No signs of coronary artery disease per the stress test.

Portion size play a big role in your statement. French eat a lot of fat (butter, creams) and drink a lot of wine, yet have low Cardiovascular Disease. Quality and freshness play a role as well.

 

[Jinzang]

Cochrane does not do studies, they do meta-analyses using a standard methodology. In this case they based their results on 15 randomized trails. To quote from their report, which you can read online,

"We include 15 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) (17 comparisons, ˜59,000 participants), which used a variety of interventions from providing all food to advice on how to reduce saturated fat. The included long‐term trials suggested that reducing dietary saturated fat reduced the risk of cardiovascular events by 17%"

 

[dnfuss]

I've recently had to come off my keto diet which was mostly made up of red meat as my LDL was through the roof. I know a few on keto who don't suffer with high cholesterol though. Guess I'm just unlucky.

This would be indicated if one subscribes to the theory that LDL drives mortality (similar to serum glucose). If instead LDL is in essence a correlative marker and acute phase reactant then it might not. While others will disagree, it seems to me that the evidence for the former seems weak to non-existent.

 

[jdthoosier]

Portion size play a big role in your statement. French eat a lot of fat (butter, creams) and drink a lot of wine, yet have low Cardiovascular Disease. Quality and freshness play a role as well.

The so-called French Paradox? You can find a lot skepticism and debunking of this myth. The bigger picture is far more complex.

 

[Dansk]

The so-called French Paradox? You can find a lot skepticism and debunking of this myth. The bigger picture is far more complex.

I agree, diet is a complex thing to measure. I still think a big piece of the complexity is portion size and everyday activity and of course the biggest piece,... STRESS.

 

[captain]

I don't see much talk on here about DuPont C8. lots of people that live south of me have all kinds of problems where they was poisoned with C8. One problem is Cardiovascular Disease. If you cooked your steaks in a Teflon coated pan your results may be different than those who didn't. The old scotchgard was another source of it from 3M. I never see any study that takes anything like this into account. If any of the people in the studies had high C8 levels this would make the study flawed. Everyone has been exposed to C8 but some more than others.

 

[Gman86]

All the studies are flawed when it comes to this stuff. They’re not doing these studies on grass fed red meat, or on raw milk/ cheese from grass fed cows. Red meat from a cow that’s fed grains is going to be highly inflammatory. Inflammation and insulin resistance are the real causes of heart disease, not healthy fats and protein from red meat. So as long as you’re eating red meat from grass fed/ grass finished cows, and cheese from these same cows, you’ll be fine. Just don’t eat any red meat, or drink any dairy from grain fed cows. Dairy should also be raw, never pastuerized or homogenized.

Also, the reason why Italians and French have less trouble with pasta and grains is because the wheat there is completely different than the wheat in America. The wheat there causes very little digestive issues. It’s much easier for the body to process.

 

[Gman86]

I don't see much talk on here about DuPont C8. lots of people that live south of me have all kinds of problems where they was poisoned with C8. One problem is Cardiovascular Disease. If you cooked your steaks in a Teflon coated pan your results may be different than those who didn't. The old scotchgard was another source of it from 3M. I never see any study that takes anything like this into account. If any of the people in the studies had high C8 levels this would make the study flawed. Everyone has been exposed to C8 but some more than others.

Very good point. It’s little things like this that aren’t accounted for that make these studies flawed. I recently switched all of my cookware over to stainless steel, after finding out how horrible non stick pans are for us. Made me feel extremely stupid that I was using them for all those years.

 

[jdthoosier]

I agree, diet is a complex thing to measure. I still think a big piece of the complexity is portion size and everyday activity and of course the biggest piece,... STRESS.

Agreed. More activity, and their lives are (or were at least) less stressful due to shorter work weeks, more vacation time, and less emphasis on materialism. I used to work for a company owned by the French. Our French workers would take a 3 to 4 week vacation every summer. Not to mention our local folks that went overseas to the company HQ for a visit would come back amazed that you could buy wine in the company cafeteria at lunchtime, which was apparently quite common in France. Americans tend to take life too seriously.

 

[ndifp3]

Very good point. It’s little things like this that aren’t accounted for that make these studies flawed. I recently switched all of my cookware over to stainless steel, after finding out how horrible non stick pans are for us. Made me feel extremely stupid that I was using them for all those years.

Most cook with excessively high temperature and or unattended and therefore should avoid PTFE. Inhalation of vapors from overheated PTFE is of far more concern than ingestion.

All coated pans except those of the highest quality employ low quality fragile coatings even if labeled "Genuine Dupont". Low quality and consumer abuse are the only concerns with PTFE cookware.

When PTFE coated pans are used properly meaning low temperature only and always with liquid or oil the hazards are significantly reduced to non-existent. High quality non-stick PTFE coatings such as those offered by All-Clad are far more resistant to scratching, heat and flaking. I own such pans and use them exclusively for eggs, sauces, delicate foods and reheating. They are used on a portable induction with temp control and auto-shut off. This reduces the chance of overheating to near zero. Cleaned only by rubbing with hand under hot water and a polishing cloth allowing some oil to remain so food is never in direct contact with PTFE.

For sticky foods such as eggs I see only two alternative: well seasoned ancient cast iron or high quality hard anodized both difficult to find. Stainless is good for pressure cookers, boiling and o.k. for reheating processed food o.k. for browning or searing. SS has poor thermal properties, especially for a fry pan and especially if not $$$ multi-clad construction.

 

[captain]

C8 is perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). I have some family that have high levels. All the males are low T.