Lessons We Can Learn from Ancestral Diets Traditional societies consumed diets that were high in saturated animal fats yet showed no signs of chronic illness. The featured documentary emphasizes that populations around the world thrived on widely different diets, as long as the ingredients were traditional, minimally processed, and free from modern... See more

Ancestral diets were rich in saturated fat, yet people were free of chronic disease — The Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania were documented in the 1970s as consuming a diet of milk, meat, and blood, with two-thirds of their calories coming from animal fat. In the South Pacific, the Tokelau population lived on a diet based heavily on coconut and fish,... See more

Lowering cholesterol showed no benefit — Seed oils do lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and total cholesterol, but that reduction has not translated into better outcomes. "In large clinical trials, the most rigorous kind of evidence on 76,000 people, lowering your LDL cholesterol by consuming seed oils has never been shown to have any benefit for... See more

Clinical trials in the 1980s linked seed oils to cancer — In the early 1980s, a series of high-quality clinical trials began to show a connection between seed oil consumption and cancer, particularly colon cancer. The documentary notes that this was in a dozen clinical trials, and the results were strong enough to prompt high-level meetings at the... See more

Shop the perimeter, skip the processed center — Avoid the central aisles of the grocery store where most processed and ultraprocessed products are shelved. Items like crackers, cookies, chips, salad dressings, and plant-based milks often contain soybean, canola, sunflower, or safflower oil, even when marketed as "heart-healthy." Instead, focus on... See more

Over the last century, the American diet has undergone a dramatic transformation. Home-cooked meals made from simple, whole ingredients have steadily given way to ultraprocessed products — foods engineered for convenience, mass production, and longer shelf life. These changes didn't happen all at once, and most people weren't aware they were even... See more

Procter & Gamble's donation transformed the AHA overnight — The American Heart Association was described as a small, struggling organization with little public presence and limited ability to influence health policy. Cardiologists were rare because heart disease was less common, and the group lacked the funding to operate on a national level. That... See more

Toxicity concerns from animal studies were dismissed — Teicholz shared that animal research linked seed oils to liver damage and the formation of toxic oxidation products. However, these findings, like the human data on cancer, were not integrated into official guidance. Instead, institutional decision-making prioritized cholesterol reduction above... See more

Stored LA contributes to mitochondrial injury — Mitochondria use a special fat called cardiolipin to help generate energy. As LA dominates the diet, it becomes a major building block of cardiolipin, making it fragile and prone to oxidation. The result is impaired energy production, increased oxidative stress, and higher vulnerability to chronic... See more