The lipid theory of heart disease linking saturated fat to coronary heart disease continues to crumble. Of course there never was any real solid science linking traditional saturated fats and cholesterol to heart disease, but that didn’t stop the pharmaceutical companies from making billions of dollars from the sale of cholesterol-lowering drugs. Before the patent expired, Lipitor was the best selling drug of all time, nearly equaling the sales of all other drugs combined.

An excellent study analyzing the existing medical literature regarding dietary fats and heart disease was just published in Advances in Nutrition by Glen D. Lawrence, PhD, from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Long Island University in Brooklyn, NY – Dietary Fats and Health: Dietary Recommendations in the Context of Scientific Evidence.

This analysis is significant because it not only looks at the differences of dietary oils classified as saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MFA) or polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), but also the ratios of Omega 3 (ω3) to Omega 6 (ω6) fatty acids contained within PUFAs. Older research had suggested that PUFAs had a lower risk of heart disease. But the science actually points to only Omega 3 fatty acids, such as those found in fish oils, as being heart healthy, and not Omega 6 fatty acids, such as those found in corn and soybean oil, which comprise more than 90% of the dietary oil market in the U.S.

The study also correctly vindicates the negative bias against saturated fat found in coconut oil and dairy products: “Several recent analyses indicate that SFAs, particularly in dairy products and coconut oil, can improve health.”