Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Now what about those who say there’s no such thing as good fat, advising people to cut back on foods like nuts and avocados, even though they are whole plant foods? I do not believe this is supported by the balance of evidence. When, in good faith, I’ve challenged these folks to provide me with scientific studies supporting their position, they show me studies done on African green monkeys. I’m a physician, not a veterinarian! Rather than finding out what happens when you feed monkeys guacamole, I’m interested in human studies. Human studies show that eating a handful of nuts a day may cut our risk of fatal heart attack in half. Now there are human studies, like this new one, that show that even a single high-fat meal can immediately adversely affect our arteries. What exactly were they eating, though? The high-fat meal consisted of McDonald’s Sausage and Egg McMuffin—42 grams of fat. What would happen if you did the same study, and even doubled the amount of fat to 80 grams—but from olive oil or walnuts, plant sources? You don’t get the negative reaction you do from animal fat, and with walnuts, you get a beneficial effect. An immediate positive effect on our arteries, eating handfuls of walnuts. So, high-fat animal foods? Bad reaction. Higher fat olive oil? No reaction. And walnuts? Good reaction. Despite what some may have us believe, avocados and nuts are health-promoting foods, at least in human beings.

In fact, the positive health effects of nuts are so powerful they are trying to add walnuts to meat. Walnut-enriched restructured meat. Essentially injecting walnut paste into steaks to improve people’s nutrition. Why not just eat the walnuts? The food industry is definitely creative!

Check out this new study published in the Journal of Nutrition, “A Nutribusiness Strategy for Processing and Marketing Animal-Source Foods for Children.” The meat laboratory at Penn State University was trying to come up with a novel animal product called the “Chiparoo,” designed especially for children. It’s meant to be a cross somewhere between beef jerky and a potato chip, made out of chickens or rabbits. Here is actual footage of a guy making it. Strips of raw bunny batter to sell to kids! I couldn’t make up stuff like this! Walnut-enriched restructured meat?

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

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• Jakulj F, Zernicke K, Bacon SL, van Wielingen LE, Key BL, West SG, Campbell TS. A high-fat meal increases cardiovascular reactivity to psychological stress in healthy young adults. J Nutr. 2007 Apr;137(4):935-9.
• Cortés B, Núñez I, Cofán M, Gilabert R, Pérez-Heras A, Casals E, Deulofeu R, Ros E. Acute effects of high-fat meals enriched with walnuts or olive oil on postprandial endothelial function. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2006 Oct 17;48(8):1666-71. Epub 2006 Sep 26.
• Canales A, Benedí J, Nus M, Librelotto J, Sánchez-Montero JM, Sánchez-Muniz FJ. Effect of walnut-enriched restructured meat in the antioxidant status of overweight/obese senior subjects with at least one extra CHD-risk factor. J Am Coll Nutr. 2007 Jun;26(3):225-32.
• Mills EW, Seetharaman K, Maretzki AN. A nutribusiness strategy for processing and marketing animal-source foods for children. J Nutr. 2007 Apr;137(4):1115-8.

Images thanks to Jon Cockley via Flickr.

• animal fat
• avocados
• children
• eggs
• meat
• nuts
• oils
• olive oil
• seeds
• walnuts