When discussing the wisdom of traditional diets, a frequently asked question arises: “Didn’t people in the past dies at the age of 40? Considering their consumption of meat and fat, it is assumed that their life expectancy was shorter.
WRONG!
Life expectancy is not solely based on the age people died, but rather an average of all deaths, including a significant number of infant deaths. The high infant mortality rates before 1900 skewed the numbers, mainly due to unclean conditions and inadequate medical care. Consequently, life expectancy figures before the year 1900 are significantly lower due to these factors.
THE TRUTH IS THE HUMAN LIFESPAN HAS BEEN CONSISTENT FOR MORE THAN 2,000 YEARS!
“The inclusion of infant mortality rates in calculating life expectancy creates the mistaken impression that earlier generations died at a young age; Americans were not dying en masse at the age of 46 in 1907. The fact is that the maximum human lifespan — a concept often confused with “life expectancy” — has remained more or less the same for thousands of years. The idea that our ancestors routinely died young (say, at age 40), has no basis in scientific fact. When Socrates died at the age of 70 around 399 B.C., he did not die of old age but instead by execution. It is ironic that ancient Greeks lived into their 70s and older, while more than 2,000 years later modern Americans aren’t living much longer.”
– Benjamin Radford, Bad Science Column
Heart Attacks and even strokes were virtually unheard of before Crisco and Margarine came into the American diet
Crisco made its debut in 1911 during a time when women typically remained at home, using butter and lard for cooking. The task for Crisco was to persuade housewives about the benefits of this new imitation food. P&G’s initial advertising campaign positioned the all-vegetable shortening as a “healthier option to animal fats in cooking. . . and a more cost-effective choice than butter.” In just one statement, P&G had positioned itself against its main rivals—lard and butter.
Subsequently, the vilification of animal fat and cholesterol commenced in the 1960s through the well-known Seven Countries Study conducted by Ansel Keys. Keys, a prominent figure, mistakenly associated heart disease with selectively chosen data during a period when heart disease was increasing in the United States. The public was eager for a solution, and his suggestion, although incorrect, was straightforward: consume animal fat, elevate your cholesterol levels, and develop heart disease. His proposed remedy? Substitute animal fats with vegetable oil.
The Real Causes of Heart Disease: Inflammation, Carbs, PUFAs
In the meantime, the increase in vegetable oil consumption has coincided with a rise in obesity, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases to record highs. A majority of adults in the United States are affected by at least one chronic illness, with a significant portion having two or more.
Modern science not only informs us that saturated fat does not lead to heart disease, but also uncovers that heart disease is primarily caused by the high-carb grains and industrial vegetable oil that replace high-fat animal products in our diets.
Indeed, scientific studies have demonstrated that heart disease is an inflammatory condition triggered by carbohydrates and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) found in vegetable oils. The British Journal of Sports Medicine published a study in 2017 with a straightforward title that leaves no room for ambiguity: “Saturated Fat does not clog arteries: coronary heart disease is a chronic inflammatory condition the risk of which can be effectively reduced from healthy lifestyle interventions.”
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