For the last 40 years, healthcare policy makers and physicians have increasingly exhorted us to eat less saturated fat while TV anchors and medical writers have written horror stories of eating them. Because of this constant, shrill and unremitting message, the general population believes saturated fat, if not overtly toxic, will at least cause widespread bodily damage. Further, foods that naturally contain saturated fat like butter, beef, pork, dairy, eggs, and oils, have been branded ‘unhealthy’. The paradox here is that as the false drumbeat against saturated fats has increased, the actual science supporting this message has fallen into shambles.
Kitava Island is one of the Trobriand Islands in Papua New Guinea's archipelago. The people of Kitava was one of the last populations on Earth with dietary habits matching what would have been the case for the population of Homo sapiens in their original habitats on the island of Kitava. Kitavans are not known to have stroke, diabetes, dementia, congestive heart failure, obesity or acne.
