Episode Details

Is fat good or bad for your heart? For decades, we blamed fat and cholesterol for clogged arteries and heart attacks. Now you choose low-fat yogurt to protect your heart, while others cook with beef tallow.

In this episode, Dr. Alice Lichtenstein, a world-leading expert on dietary fat and heart health, helps settle the debate.

Dr. Lichtenstein explains which fats protect your heart and which to cut back on, you'll learn what raises your cholesterol, and why the type of fat you eat matters more than how much of it you eat. You’ll leave the episode with some practical food swaps to protect your heart and live longer.

Have you swapped butter for "low-fat" alternatives loaded with sugar? Could that choice be working against your heart?

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Timecodes

00:00 Intro

01:33 The most common myth about fat, busted in one word

03:20 What fat actually is, and why your body needs it to survive

11:29 Why butter and beef tallow turn solid at room temperature

13:12 How saturated fat raises your risk of heart disease

15:36 Heart attack or stroke: which one saturated fat actually raises

17:12 Are all saturated fats equally bad for you?

20:07 The flawed rabbit study that shaped decades of egg advice

21:41 What actually makes your cholesterol go up

24:04 How high cholesterol quietly clogs your arteries

27:04 The 1960s study that proved swapping fat saves lives

30:32 How your liver secretly turns sugar into fat

32:37 The verdict on beef tallow and butter

36:32 Simple food swaps for a heart-healthy diet

38:10 Does eating more fat make you gain weight?

40:35 The truth about grass-fed beef and omega-3

42:53 Is beef tallow really a healthy fat?

44:40 Is fermented dairy actually healthy?

45:19 The checklist to delay premature aging

47:52 The pantry check that could improve your heart health

49:56 The 1990s mistake we made with low-fat yogurt

51:47 Why knowing your cholesterol numbers matters most

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra  

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gu