A Write up on right Butter For Better Health (Good News On Fats) 

HEALTHY FATS: Not all butter is bad to eat. If you get the right kind, it may even be good for health, says noted fitness expert PEG JORDAN 

Doctor’s AdviceAll the time, doctors have been telling people with a potential for heart disease and stroke to cut down on the amount of fats they eat. 

The advice was based on their accumulated evidence that levels of cholesterol and triglyceride in the blood stream — two fats that can clog arteries — could be increased through eating too much dietary fat. 

All are NOT EqualBut of late scientists have learned that not all fats are created equal. In fact, the good news is that the tastiest of fats, olive oil, may actually benefit your health. 

It's especially good news because French and Italian cuisines are loved the world over. 

I would hate to think that one of the key ingredients was deadly, but happily, it's not the case. Civilizations based in the Mediterranean region have always known about the innate goodness of olive oil, either by instinct or through traditions. 


Diets centered around Olive oil
For thousands of years, people in Crete, Greece, Italy, French, Spain, and Morocco have centered their diets around olives and the oil they produce, resulting in a uniquely healthy lifestyle. 

A Summary:
A summary of the 2000 International Conference on the Mediterranean Diet, reviewed food patterns of the region over 30 years. 

Besides using olive oil as the principal source of fat, the diet has an abundance of fruits, vegetables, breads, potatoes, beans, low to moderate dairy, fish and poultry intake and low amounts of red meat and eggs. 

Mediterranean Diet:

Studies have shown that specific health factors can be naturally maintained or improved via the Mediterranean diet, including a steady influx of antioxidants, protective agents against heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer. 

Risk of Obesity:
Olive oil consumption is also equated with a lowered risk of obesity and improved blood pressure. Recently, scientists have been able to encapsulate pharmaceutical-grade olive oil in a blend with vitamins, minerals and herbals. 

Better Chance for Butter:
In the early 1980s, the famous French chef Julia Child almost came to blows with nutritionists, who were busy declaring war on rich foods such as butter and other dairy products.

LIFE WITHOUT OXYGEN
According to Child, cooking without butter would be tantamount to life without oxygen. 

Debate on Butter:
The butter-is-bad debate raged on, while it looked like upscale chefs were conceding failure with their "alternatives to butter" recipes. But just this month, butter, too, seems to be redeemed. 

An article in the August 2001 edition of the journal Lipids reports that Swedish researchers concluded that taking conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)reduced body fat in a study of 53 patients. 

CLS is the common name of a group of fatty acids found in dairy products. However, over the last 50years, changes in livestock feeding practices, have largely removed naturally occurring CLA from our diets.

Studying the health properties of rural Ireland this past summer, I noted that the dairy products were exceptional. The cows, sheep and goats all munched on the greenest pastures ever seen. 

Dairy production was local, small-scale and sustainable. And the CLA content of the butter was several times higher than the barely detectable levels from mass production dairies in other countries. 

Anti-Cancer PropertiesIn several recent studies, CLA has received considerable attention due to its apparent metabolic and other health benefits and anti-cancer properties in animals, as well as some similar, initial results in humans. 

The effects seen in animals include reduced body fat content, improved serum lipid profiles, decreased aortic lipid deposition, improved glucose control and delayed onset of diabetes. 

Reduction of Body FatsIt seems that eating the right butter from cows that are relaxed, content and grazing on green grass (where the CLA comes from) can actually help your body reduce its body fat and increase its lean muscle. 

Chronic DiseaseWhereas, eating butter from high production cows that never munch away, but are fed stock grains while hooked up to milking equipment, lined up in over crowded stalls, and leading anything but content lives well, the milk they produce has little or no CLA. 

In turn, it makes you fatter, particularly in the belly, which is associated with chronic disease. 

So, it turns out, both Julia and the nutritionists were right. They were simply focusing on different batches of butter. One had high amounts of CLA; the bad butter didn't. CLA is getting to be the new hot nutrient these days. 

I've even seen it in capsules containing 4.2 g. Finally the most important fats for growing children are the essential fatty acids (EFAs), especially a group known as long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. 

Good for ADHD ChildrenAttention Deficit Hyper Active Disorder, is a complex, neurological and behavioral condition in a small percentage of children, making their lack of focus, constant fidgeting, and behavioral problems a social setback and major challenge for parents and teachers. 

Children are often treated with psycho stimulant medications like methylphenidate, but parents are understandably reluctant to medicate their children for long. 

Personal experienceAs A Parent of an ADHD son I personally experienced the above situation and I agree to the status. 

New research is looking at the importance of maintaining healthy levels of E F A s (Essential Fatty Acids)in a child's growing brain and nervous system. 

It may be wise to consider enhancing a child's diet with fatty acids found in grains, almonds, grape seed oil, flaxseed and some nutritional supplements to see if cognitive and behavioral functions can improve. 

Nutritional Safe guardIn any case, maintaining the healthy fats in a child's diet, as mentioned above, may be a good nutritional safeguard for future health. 

C.EASHWER - SINGAPORE (1 iSOLU)
eashwer@pacific.net.sg