Swindon Group
About the event
7.15pm to 9pm, Thursday 16 May
Join the Swindon Group's May free talk, titled "A Good lot of fat or a fat lot of good?" by Ned (Neil) Kelly who will help us with dietary advice.
An entertaining talk from Ned (Neil) Kelly, retired after 40 years in the pharma Industry, and who will help us with dietary advice.
Ned talks about the diet/heart hypothesis and a graph (below) showing heart disease in men demonstrated a huge difference between Japan and the USA. A later study also showed that Japanese people moving to live in the USA and adopting a western diet, had developed increased levels of heart disease. Traditional thinking has been that fat from meat is bad and the risk can be reduced by eating more polyunsaturated fats. But more recent analysis shows there is no significant evidence that dietary saturated fat is associated with a high increase in heart disease - although a switch to more polyunsaturates and cutting out trans fats may help with a small reduction in cardiac disease.
More recent studies have shown that it is not so much to do with fats, but rather missing out on the benefits from what you are not eating. Many people eat far too much salt and sugary foods but are short of the healthy things. We will look at examples of ‘bad’ foods versus a healthier Mediterranean diet with far less red meat and fatty foods. People need some cholesterol as the body uses it to make a range of hormones and nearly all of this is manufactured by the liver, not from the fat you have eaten.
Ned described LDL (bad) cholesterol as a fly tipper – it lays down cholesterol in your arteries and leaves it there. On the other hand, HDL (good) cholesterol picks up the excess and takes it back to the liver for recycling. As statins work by interfering with the production of cholesterol in the liver, they are able to successfully lower total cholesterol levels and studies have shown a subsequent reduction in the risk of heart disease. Ned is able to clarify some of the jargon we regularly hear around cholesterol, fats and dietary advice.
There will be refreshments and free parking as usual (but do remember to register your car at reception on arrival).
Members and their guests are also welcome to socialise in the bar after the talk.
Price
Free
The Holiday Inn, Swindon, SN3 6AQ
Contact
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