BMJ-British Medical Journal. "Low Saturated Fat
Diets Don't Curb Heart Disease Risk or Help You Live Longer." ScienceDaily.
ScienceDaily, 5 Mar. 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.
The article, “Low Saturated Fat
Diets Don't Curb Heart Disease Risk or Help You Live Longer,” reports the argument
made by Dr. James DiNicolantonio, a leading US cardiovascular research scientist
and doctor of pharmacy. Dr. James DiNicolantonio argues that diets containing a
low amount of saturated fats fail to reduce the chance of heart disease or to
lengthen the lives of people. In addition, he argues that the recommendation to
replace saturated fats with carbohydrates or omega 6-rich polyunsaturated fats is built on
flawed and incomplete data from the 1950s. He insists that dietary advices need
to be reviewed and improved upon to prevent human deaths. The negative
evaluation of saturated fats, which said that there was a connection between
high dietary saturated fat intake and deaths from heart disease, was in 1952.
To support his argument, DiNicolantonio says that the study’s author made his
conclusions based on data from six countries and ignored the data taken from
the other sixteen countries. Apparently, the author chose not to use the data
from the other sixteen countries because it did not support his hypothesis. The
public supported the study and continued to believe its conclusion, specifically
after Eisenhower had a heart attack. DiNicolantonio believes that Eisenhower’s
heart attack also generated the public to immediately support the theory that
saturated fats increase overall cholesterol leading to a greater risk of heart
disease. Even though a low fat diet lowers LDL, there are two types of LDL:
pattern A and pattern B. Pattern A is LDL that are large floating particles
that do not have the ability to cause atherosclerosis. Pattern B, however,
consists of small particles that have the great potential to cause arterial
plaques and increase the risk of heart disease. Switching to carbohydrates can
increase pattern B, the LDL that is more dangerous than pattern A.
DiNicolantonio also says that analysis of a published trial has shown that substituting
saturated fats and trans fatty acids with omega 6 fatty acids, without a parallel
rise in omega 3 fatty acids, increases the risk of death from coronary heart
and cardiovascular diseases. DiNicolantonio suggests people to have a diet low
in refined carbohydrates, sugars, and processed foods.
The information in the article
clearly connects to humanity because countless people care about their diets
and suffer from health problems. Having dietary misconceptions does not help humanity’s
health. Furthermore, this article relates to the scientific world. The
information presented shows that although people believe the conclusions of one
study, they can still test results and see whether they get similar results
(even if the study was done in the 1950s). Also, it makes the scientific audience
realize that although conclusions are made, the experiment must be thoroughly analyzed.
They must question whether the author left out data to his or her advantage, whether
the groups were set up properly, whether the experiment could have been improved
to get better results, etc. Lastly, it reminds scientists to always stick to
their results and not be biased.
The article, overall, was well-written. It could have
been improved, though, if the author explained the two different types of LDL
cholesterol. Since the author did not, prior to writing this review, I had to
research and learn the two types of LDL in order to understand the article more.
I read Maria's review of “Low Saturated Fat Diets Don't Curb Heart Disease Risk or Help You Live Longer,” by Dr. James DiNicolantonio. One of the greatest aspects of this review that Maria did went and did outside research in order to understand her topic better. In Maria’s review she complained that the article did not make clear how the two types of ADL were different she took her own time to learn more about them. This then enabled her to write a more sophisticated review and also allowed the reader of her review to understand the two types of ADL. I also liked the topic of the article Maria chose to write about. It is believed that Low Saturated Fat food is better for you and many nutritionists even encourage it. This new development shows how important it is to always check and double check results. The original results 1952 were done in a sloppy way and other scientists just hopped on the bandwagon instead of seeing if the results of the experiment held water. Finally, a third thing I liked about the article was that Maria gave a very long, detailed, and thorough synopsis, seen in her first paragraph. Although it is longer than most other reviews, the information that is presented and the way it is written enables for an easy read and a true understanding of the article.
ReplyDeleteOne area I thought Maria could have improved upon was the addition of quotes. Quotes enable us to understand what the writer of the article thinks. Quotes from scientific sources also adds ethos to the review by letting the reading know that what is being said can be found to be true. Another area that Maria could have improved upon was her review of the article. She only made a brief statement about how she did not know the difference between the two types of ADL. Considering the obvious time she put into her review it would seem like she would of had more to say about the article.
Finally one important thing that is learned from this review is that one must follow the scientific method for accurate results. It is also important to check other researchers facts and make sure their procedures were done in a proper way.