Scientists took a sample of middle-aged Australian men who had either experienced a heart attack or suffered from angina and advised half to cut their animal fat intake and replace it with safflower oil (which is similar to sunflower oil) and safflower oil margarine, while the other half continued to eat as normal.
Those who ate more of the safflower-derived products were almost twice as likely to die from heart disease, making it look like the widely accepted wisdom that saturated fats are bad for you might not be true after all.
In fact there’s a growing belief (according to the Daily Mail) that natural saturated fats — like those contained in dairy and meat, as opposed to those contained in marge — may actually turn out to be good for you.
These fats have already been identified as key components of cell membranes, essential for the production of certain hormones and having an important role to play in the transport and absorption of certain vitamins and minerals.
All good news – especially since butter tastes so much better than margarine anyway.
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