Butter And Cheese Better Than Trans-Fat Margarines, Says Heart Specialist

Sarah Boseley | The Guardian | October 22, 2013

Aseem Malhotra says saturated fat is not a problem, low-fat products are often full of sugar and statins are over-prescribed

Butter, cheese and even red meat are not as bad for the heart as has been maintained, a cardiologist has said in a leading medical journal, adding that it is time to "bust the myth" of saturated fat.

Aseem Malhotra, interventional cardiology specialist registrar at Croydon University hospital, London, also argues that statins have been over-prescribed because of the government's obsession with lowering cholesterol in an attempt to reduce heart disease – and that the side-effects outweigh the benefits for millions of people who take them every day.

Trans-fats found in many fast foods, bakery goods and margarine are indeed a problem, Malhotra writes in the British Medical Journal. But saturated fats in milk, cheese and meat are another matter.