I suppose the reason I've done all this research is to answer that one question. Should saturated fat be avoided?

The answer to: "Is saturated fat bad for you?" is easy. The answer is unequivocally NO. Saturated fat is a natural component of animal products. Humans evolved eating animal products. Humans would not have evolved a higher brain unless they ate animal products. Does saturated fat hurt you? No. It's good for you.

Should it be avoided? The answer should be no. Dr. Mary Enig and the entire Weston A Price foundation and their followers as well as many, many low-carb groups say saturated fat should not be avoided and in some cases they say it should be the primary fat that we eat.

I for the most part agree with this.

However, my studies have led me to believe that there is unmistakable evidence that some saturated fats can raise total cholesterol. This has worried me from the beginning. Not for people with normal cholesterol. I think people with cholesterol under 250 should not avoid saturated fat for many reasons. One, because we were meant to eat saturated fat. Two, because atherosclerosis is caused by fat oxidation and saturated fat is the least likely to oxidize. Three, because saturated fat is always integrated with other fats. Four, because I've eaten a ton of saturated fat and my cholesterol is 168 and my HDL is 71. Five, because cholesterol under 160 leads to suicide, stroke and cancer. Six, because high HDL is the best protection against heart disease and saturated fat raises HDL the most.

However, I believe there are certain people with high cholesterol who even when low-carbing have a problem lowering their cholesterol to under 275. Even though high cholesterol may have nothing whatsoever to do with atherosclerosis, the charts and graphs appear to show that those with cholesterol levels over 275 are at higher risk for heart disease.

Let me explain here. This does not mean that high cholesterol causes heart disease. Two hundred years ago, a doctor may have said that a person died of The Fever. But what caused the fever? What did they die of? The fever was a symptom that something was wrong in the body. They really died of a bacteria
or virus that the doctor wasn't medically advanced enough to know about. Doctor's thought, "Fever kills, so bring the fever down." But what was the real cause of death? The same is true of high cholesterol. Those with extremely high cholesterol are more likely to die of heart disease, but high cholesterol is like the fever. It is merely a symptom that the body is out of balance. Something unknown is going on that is causing heart disease and a symptom is high cholesterol. But just as bringing down a fever doesn't cure the disease, neither does bringing down cholesterol necessarily cure heart disease.

But let's say that a person's cholesterol is over 275 signalling an imbalance in the body showing that something is making them at greater risk for heart disease. Now here is the kicker. If they have been on a low-fat diet, they will undoubtably lower their cholesterol by eating a great quantity of saturated fat. This is what happens to most people who low-carb. This is because it is the sugar (glucose) that gave them high cholesterol in the first place. But in a minority of cases, some people do not lower cholesterol by eating saturated fat and for those very few and far in between, I would suggest cutting down on the saturated fat for a time to see if it is the problem.

It is hard to make sweeping statements about anything when it comes to the body. Our bodies all react differently and we are all individuals.

However, in spite of what Dr. Willett appears to believe and in spite of or rather because of all the studies I've read, I truly believe that saturated fats are beneficial for most people and should not be avoided. I think we all feel the pressure of years of brain-washing--even Dr. Willett feels it, even Dr. Schwarzbein. It's hard to ignore what you've been taught in med school. But everytime I read an analytical review of studies on saturated fats, there appear to be more studies that accidentally proved the benefits of saturated fats or a null effect than there are studies proving any harm.

Bottom line (and sorry for the round-about answer): Unless you have been low-carbing and can't get your cholesterol under 275, everyone should eat saturated fat. Saturated fat should not be avoided by the majority of people.