Saturated Fat is not the Culprit in Heart Disease
Can we jettison misguided and dangerous recommendations on fat and heart disease – please?
It’s not often that the mainstream media notices an academic meta-analysis, or study of studies – particularly if it goes against the tide of prevailing dietary advice. But that’s what happened with a recent Australian study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
The BMJ paper was an update of a previous meta-analysis by the same investigators, looking at the consequences for cardiovascular health of replacing dietary saturated fats (i.e. butter) with polyunsaturated, omega-6 fatty acids (PUFAs). This time around, the group reassessed the results of the Sydney Diet Heart Study (SDHS), a randomized, controlled trial involving 458 patients that compared the rates of cardiovascular disease among subjects who increased the amount of omega-6 PUFAs – specifically, linoleic acid from safflower oil – in their diet with patients who continued their normal diet. As well as reanalyzing the results, the investigators incorporated them into their previous meta-analysis.
The SDHS results were clear: replacing dietary saturated fats with omega-6 PUFAs increased all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality and mortality from coronary heart disease.
