Saturated Fat Does not Cause Heart Disease According to the JACC

[RAE]

Here's a big article that just came out in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology a couple weeks ago. The title:


Saturated Fats and Health: A Reassessment and Proposal for Food-based Recommendations: JACC State-of -the-Art Review

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109720356874?via=ihub

and this is from the abstract:

The recommendation to limit dietary saturated fatty acid (SFA) intake has persisted despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Most recent meta-analyses of randomized trials and observational studies found no beneficial effects of reducing SFA intake on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and total mortality, and instead found protective effects against stroke. Although SFAs increase low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, in most individuals, this is not due to increasing levels of small, dense LDL particles, but rather larger LDL which are much less strongly related to CVD risk. It is also apparent that the health effects of foods cannot be predicted by their content in any nutrient group, without considering the overall macronutrient distribution. Whole-fat dairy, unprocessed meat, eggs and dark chocolate are SFA-rich foods with a complex matrix that are not associated with increased risk of CVD. The totality of available evidence does not support further limiting the intake of such foods.

 

[zinger1457]

Here's a big article that just came out in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology a couple weeks ago. The title:


Saturated Fats and Health: A Reassessment and Proposal for Food-based Recommendations: JACC State-of -the-Art Review

Looks an awful lot like the study the OP posted about.

 

[RAE]

Looks an awful lot like the study the OP posted about.

Yeah, sorry, I noticed that a few minutes after I posted this. My bad......

 

[daylatedollarshort]

The only diet with research published in peer reviewed medical journals that I am aware of to reverse heart disease (Ornish diet) is low fat vegetarian. For cognitive decline, the only diet (Breseden) I am aware of with published studies to reverse the condition is low carb and plant based. The only one I'm aware of to reverse colon cancer risk is rural African. So none of these are exactly the same but they are all plant based Plant based is also the commonality for all of the different Blue Zone (longevity areas).

All these papers that talk about reviewing other papers might be helpful for some, but personally I pay more attention to the studies where researchers have put people on specific diets and reversed conditions I don't want to get to begin with. Or what do people commonly eat in places with low rates of Western diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's.


ETA: I also pay attention to the studies where researchers either drip specific foods on cancer cells or the blood from people after eating different diets and see what happens. The blood circulating within the bodies of people on plant based diets had nearly eight times the stopping power for cancer cell growth.

 

[RAE]

The only diet with research published in peer reviewed medical journals that I am aware of to reverse heart disease (Ornish diet) is low fat vegetarian.

We've had this debate before, and I doubt that anyone's mind is going to be changed by going through it again. But, folks not familiar with Ornish and his diet that supposedly "reverses heart disease" should really dig into his work to see how flawed and biased it is. Here is one cardiologist's take on Ornish's work, which points out many of those flaws:

https://theskepticalcardiologist.co...fically-proven-to-undo-reverse-heart-disease/

Even if you overlook the huge methological flaws in Ornish's study, his results are pretty underwhelming, to say the least. There were no significant differences between his plant-based diet group and the control group at 5 years in hard events such as heart attack or death. In fact, 2 of the experimental group died versus 1 of the control group by 5 years.

There is plenty of evidence that humans evolved eating a diet that included meat. If you want to maintain good cardiac health, stay away from highly-processed pseudo-foods that humans have only recently begun to consume, such as industrial seed oils, and ultra-processed, acellular carbs, and don't stress about eating meat and saturated fat.

 

[audreyh1]

Ornish’s program was not diet only either - it’s stress management, quitting smoking, etc. as well. I don’t believe any work was done on the diet alone.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/...ng-dean-ornish-says-about-nutrition-is-wrong/

 

[braumeister]

Mod note: We seem to be getting back into the religious wars again. See Post #8 in this thread.

To emphasize: nobody is going to convince anyone else here to change their way of eating, so please don't try.

 

[JJpop]

It is difficult to keep up. If you want you can find a study that helps you rationalize just about anything.
I put more stock in it when I see a broad consensus across many experts from different institutions.
The greatest study I have ever seen was the one commissioned by the great pop pop. Use common sense and moderation in everything, except for sugar. Eliminate sugar as much as possible. You are welcome

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Mod note: We seem to be getting back into the religious wars again. See Post #8 in this thread.

To emphasize: nobody is going to convince anyone else here to change their way of eating, so please don't try.

That is an interesting viewpoint, as I am always experimenting with my diet and making changes based on new information and research.

 

[RobbieB]

I always experiment with my diet by trying new foods that I never ate before.