Cheese, please! Study finds saturated fats 'not so bad’

Butter, cheese and even red meat are not as bad for the heart as has been maintained, a cardiologist has said in a leading medical journal, adding that it is time to “bust the myth”of saturated fat.

Aseem Malhotra, interventional cardiology specialist registrar at Croydon University hospital, London, also argues that statins have been over-prescribed because of the government’s obsession with lowering cholesterol in an attempt to reduce heart disease - and that the side-effects outweigh the benefits for millions of people who take them every day.

Trans-fats, found in many fast foods, bakery goods and margarine are indeed a problem, Malhotra writes in the British Medical Journal. But saturated fats in milk, cheese and meat are another matter.

The insistence that saturated fat must be removed from our diet has paradoxically, he says, increased the risk of cardiovascular disease. “Recent prospective cohort studies have not supported significant association between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular risk,”he argues. “Instead, saturated fat has been found to be protective."

He adds that it may depend on what sort of foods the saturated fat comes from. Dairy products contain vitamin D, a lack of which has been linked to increased heart disease, and calcium and phosphorus, which may have blood pressure lowering effects. Eating processed meat has been linked to higher rates of heart disease and diabetes, but not red meat.

He tells his patients that butter and cheese - though not processed cheese - are better for them than low-fat spreads. Rather than take statins, he said, people with cardiovascular risks should eat a Mediterranean diet, rich in olive oil, fruit, vegetables, fish and nuts.