Another study has been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine that absolves saturated fat from the blame that has been wrongfully placed on it for decades, regarding cardiovascular health.
New evidence raises questions about the link between fatty acids and heart diseaseAn international research collaboration led by the University of Cambridge analysed existing cohort studies and randomised trials on coronary risk and fatty acid intake. They showed that current evidence does not support guidelines which restrict the consumption of saturated fats in order to prevent heart disease. The researchers also found insufficient support for guidelines which advocate the high consumption of polyunsaturated fats (such as omega 3 and omega 6) to reduce the risk of coronary disease.
Furthermore, when specific fatty acid subtypes (such as different types of omega 3) were examined, the effects of the fatty acids on cardiovascular risk varied even within the same broad 'family' -- questioning the existing dietary guidelines that focus principally on the total amount of fat from saturated or unsaturated rather than the food sources of the fatty acid subtypes.
The only problem is that this is not actually new evidence, as the title claims — it's more like the recognition of old evidence, because it's the result of an objective analysis of 72 previously-published studies. Regardless of all the evidence, I wonder how long it will be before most mainstream doctors reverse their long-standing incorrect advice about avoiding saturated fats for heart health.
This statement, from the above quote, raises some very interesting questions about the way we view the relative effects of omega-3 and omega-6 (ω-3 and ω-6) fatty acids, for example:
IMO, that statement reaffirms my belief that whole foods are healthy, while individual nutrient supplements don't always measure up. In fact, in some cases they are probably pretty much worthless, because without the other nutrients in the whole foods to act synergistically, the individual nutrients often have limited potency. Regardless of what the food and pharmaceutical industries and their "nutrient chemists" might claim, humans evolved eating a diet of whole foods, not individual chemical nutrients from a bottle, can, box, or any other highly-processed package.questioning the existing dietary guidelines that focus principally on the total amount of fat from saturated or unsaturated rather than the food sources of the fatty acid subtypes
To see an abstract of the original article:
Association of Dietary, Circulating, and Supplement Fatty Acids With Coronary Risk: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
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