I find myself in crunch time again, but wanted to get this different point of view out to you .
I have been a strong advocate for avoiding saturated fat and have oft described myself as a saturated fat phobic, calorie aware semi vegetarian. That is for the most part still true of me.
It is also true that I consider research and commentary that comes form Harvard School of Public Health and Yale's Research Centers to be of high quality. So when David Katz, MD MPH from Yale wrote a blog stating that some of the food constituent extremists... ('fat' is bad, 'sat fat' is bad, 'trans fat' is bad, 'sugar' is bad).might missing a point or two, it gave me pause.
Dr. Katz is not saying that saturated fat is without problems or that it is not linked to heart problems (it may have a role in thickening or hardening of the arteries for instance). What he does say is that the problem with diets high in saturated fat and or high in sugar... or similarly, diets high in fried foods and refined grains (e.g., cakes, pastries, white pastas and rice) are likely to be LOW in the foods that we know are healthy or which protect against heart disease (e.g., fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains).
I am going to link you to his post, even though I don't agree with all of it and don't like how his page is full of ads. I don't have time to go into more detail for you and do want you to hear his points.
Here is his post.
