Reduce your intake of saturated fats or suffer a heart condition

Added on 18/01/10

Author: Graham Pembrey

Cut saturated fats from your diet or suffer serious heart conditions. This is the stark warning, given by one of the leading heart surgeons; Dr Shyam Kolvekar. He is reported to have treated patients as young as 33, who were in need of complex heart by-pass procedures. Their need for surgery was said to have resulted from diets consisting of excessive quantities of saturated fats.

‘By banning butter and substituting it with a healthy spread, the average daily sat-fat (saturated fat) intake would be reduced by 8g’ claims Kolvekar of the University College London Hospital. He also claims that by the time he sees the patients, it is ordinarily too late to intervene without conducting dangerous procedures. He also highlights the fact that the need for heart surgery would have been avoidable, had the patients undertook a more balanced diet, without excess saturated fat.

What the stats say

According to government figures, around 88% of men and 83% of women, regularly exceed the recommended intake of saturated fats, by staggeringly high amounts. Perhaps more worryingly, a whopping 90% of children eat too much on a daily basis. This is surely reflected in the fact that 1 in 4 children are diagnosed as obese before schooling age.

In actual fact, health experts claim that if we consume too much sat-fats over the course of our lifetime, we run the risk of suffering with high blood cholesterol levels, along with clogged arteries. This can in turn, increase our chances of suffering heart disease and heart attacks.

Over 60% of our adult population is overweight to some extent and although we would associate heart conditions with people in their 50s and 60s, Volvekar explains that he has long been treating patients in their 30s and although the condition is genetic for a select few, the majority of cases, in his opinion, have resulted from sedentary lifestyle decisions.

Saturated fats are contained in any number of everyday food items, from crisps through to butter and cooking oil

Consult your doctor if you are in need of any advice concerning your weight.