Excess Animal Fat Consumption

Excess Animal Fat Consumption: Overview

Eating a diet high in animal fat leads to high saturated fat intake – the chief cause of high cholesterol.  The liver already produces all the cholesterol it needs (roughly 1gm per day) to meet our needs. A high animal fat diet is dangerous particularly when there is also a lack of fiber and exercise in ones daily routine.  Pathologies such as artherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries, due to fat lining the inside of veins and arteries, which then blocks oxygen to the heart, causing a portion of the heart to 'die'), heart attack, stroke, arthritis, inflammation and kidney failure may then develop.

Contributing Risk Factors

Excess consumption of foods that come from animals are the obvious risk factor: These include beef, beef fat, veal, lamb, pork, lard, poultry fat, butter, cream, milk, cheeses and other dairy products made from whole milk.

Excess Animal Fat Consumption

Information On This Page
Contributing risk factors What else it can lead to Recommendations

Risk factors for Excess Animal Fat Consumption:

Symptoms - Food - Intake

(High) dairy product consumption often increases risk of Excess Animal Fat Consumption(High) dairy product consumption
(High) processed meat consumption often increases risk of Excess Animal Fat Consumption(High) processed meat consumption
High grilled meat consumption may increase risk of Excess Animal Fat ConsumptionHigh grilled meat consumption

Symptoms - Food - Preferences

Partial vegetarian diet often increases risk of Excess Animal Fat Consumption(Partial) vegetarian diet or omnivorous diet

Excess Animal Fat Consumption can lead to:

Circulation

Excess Animal Fat Consumption often leads to Coronary Disease / Heart AttackCoronary Disease / Heart Attack

Tumors, Malignant

Excess Animal Fat Consumption often leads to Breast CancerBreast Cancer
A study published in 2003 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute indicates that young women who eat more red meat and full-fat dairy products such as cheese may be raising their risk of breast cancer.  When comparing the women in the highest fat intake group with women in lowest intake group, those with the highest intake had a 33% greater risk of invasive breast cancer according to Eunyoung Cho of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Breast cancer takes years to develop, usually showing up after menopause, and factors early in a woman's life may be important.  This study is significant because it included women who had not yet reached menopause.

The study of more than 90,000 women aged 26 to 46 was taken from the Nurses' Health Study, in which volunteers answer regular questionnaires about diet and lifestyle and that data is analyzed by researchers who track the women's health.  Over the eight years of the study, 714 of the women developed invasive breast cancer.  A higher risk of breast cancer was observed among women who ate foods rich in animal fat such as red meat, cheese, ice cream and butter during their 20s, 30s and 40s.

Although it is not clear how animal fat may cause cancer, this study does indicate that there may be good reason for lowering overall animal fat intake, especially during a woman's early adult life.

Recommendations for Excess Animal Fat Consumption:

Diet

Animal/Saturated Fats Avoidance is highly recommended for Excess Animal Fat ConsumptionAnimal/Saturated Fats Avoidance
Plant-Based Nutrition is highly recommended for Excess Animal Fat ConsumptionPlant-Based Nutrition
Dairy Products Avoidance is highly recommended for Excess Animal Fat ConsumptionDairy Products Avoidance

KEY

Weak or unproven link: may increase risk of
Weak or unproven link:
may increase risk of
Strong or generally accepted link: often increases risk of; often leads to
Strong or generally accepted link:
often increases risk of; often leads to
Very useful: is highly recommended for
Very useful:
is highly recommended for
Last updated: May 05, 2013