Advanced Mediterranean Diet Blog

Despite popular belief, dietary fat - whether saturated or not - is not associated with higher risk of death or illnesss from coronary heart disease, according to a study just published in Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism.  The exception is trans fatty acids.

This is yet another challenge to the Diet-Heart Hypothesis.

New Zealand researchers re-examined all the high-quality science regarding the effect of dietary fats on coronary artery disease, the leading cause of death in the developed world.  Atherosclerosis in the heart arteries causes chest pain (angina), heart failure, heart attacks, and death.

Note the major findings of this meta-analysis:

• total fat intake is not associated with coronary artery disease (at fat intake ranges between 27 and 47% of total energy)
• higher trans fatty acid intake is linked to higher cardiac events and deaths
• saturated fatty acid consumption is not associated with heart deaths or events (within the range of 9-20% of total energy from saturated fat)
• data on polyunsaturated fatty acids and heart disease are “inconsistent and unreliable”
• monunsaturated fatty acid intake was not associated with heart disease (in the range of 13-20% of total energy from MUFA)
• higher omega-3 fatty acid intake (from fish, or fish oil supplements) is linked to lower risk of heart disease, although the data are not as strong as the authors would like  

With the exception of omega-3 fats and trans fats, the researchers report, “The available evidence from cohort and randomized controlled trials is unsatisfactory and unreliable to make judgment about and substantiate the effects of dietary fat on risk of CHD [coronary heart disease].”

But they have made a judgement: Saturated and total fats are not related to heart disease.

In an interesting post-script, the authors mention “Expert Consultation,” which sounds like an oversight panel.  This committee apparently insisted on modification of the article to the effect that “replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat reduces CHD [coronary heart diseases] risk.”  Reading between the lines, I suspect that was a hard pill for the authors to swallow.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Reference:  Skeaff, C. Murray and Miller, Jody.  Dietary fat and coronary heart disease: Summary of evidence from prospective cohort and randomised controlled trials.  Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 55 (2009): 173-201. Available free online September 15, 2009.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 10th, 2009 at 9:15 am and is filed under Cardiovascular Disease, Diet-Heart Hypothesis, Saturated Fats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.