{"id":289220,"date":"2026-02-09T19:19:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/289220\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T19:19:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:19:52","slug":"how-much-fat-you-should-eat-a-day-and-what-foods-to-eat-plus-why-your-brain-needs-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/289220\/","title":{"rendered":"How much fat you should eat a day and what foods to eat, plus why your brain needs it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is the 82nd instalment in a <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/health-wellness\/series\/3206510\/decoding-dementia?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">series<\/a> on dementia, including the research into its causes and treatment, advice for carers, and stories of hope.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Should we eat a high-fat or low-fat diet for health? This debate has shaped health advice for decades, says Emily Sonestedt of Lund University in Sweden.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Sonestedt is the senior author of a study that observed that high-fat dairy products \u2013 specifically fermented options like cheese and high-fat cream \u2013 were associated with a lower risk of dementia in Swedes.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Dietary fat has a poor reputation that can be traced back to advice from the mid-20th century, when saturated fat was identified as a driver of heart disease. According to Hong Kong nutritional therapist Katia Demekhina, that advice was shaped by American physiologist Ancel Keys\u2019 Seven Countries Study, which reported an association between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular mortality.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The study was flawed because Keys analysed data from only seven countries and excluded those that did not support his hypothesis, critics suggest. Yet his findings had an exaggerated impact on nutrition policy, Demekhina says.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cIt led to decades of low-fat dietary guidelines and the emergence of many low-fat products. While well intentioned, these recommendations failed to distinguish between different types of fat or between whole foods and processed sources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Katia Demekhina says fat \u201cis not optional\u201d when it comes to brain health, because fats are fundamental building blocks of brain tissue. Photo: Katia Demekhina\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/6ecc8a38-fe83-451e-8c15-e3eb53cbcb38_872f0c95.jpg\" title=\"Katia Demekhina says fat \u201cis not optional\u201d when it comes to brain health, because fats are fundamental building blocks of brain tissue. Photo: Katia Demekhina\"\/>Katia Demekhina says fat \u201cis not optional\u201d when it comes to brain health, because fats are fundamental building blocks of brain tissue. Photo: Katia Demekhina<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the 82nd instalment in a series on dementia, including the research into its causes and treatment,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[138685,138686,58626,51196,138683,25265,138681,103,3274,10520,138682,61,60,138684,85972,446,138687,19568,138688,64857],"class_list":{"0":"post-289220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-ancel-keys","9":"tag-cardiovascular-mortality","10":"tag-cheese","11":"tag-dementia-risk","12":"tag-dietary-fat","13":"tag-dietary-guidelines","14":"tag-emily-sonestedt","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-heart-disease","17":"tag-high-cholesterol","18":"tag-high-fat-dairy","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-katia-demekhina","22":"tag-lund-university","23":"tag-nutrition","24":"tag-omega-foods","25":"tag-saturated-fat","26":"tag-seven-countries-study","27":"tag-whole-foods"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}