Study finds link between saturated fats and early death

Conclusion It's confusing when advice about healthy eating seems to change with each study published, and the experts say different things. However, when you look closely, the two studies mentioned here do not necessarily contradict each other. The researchers who carried out last year's summary of research warned that their conclusions might change based on future studies, and said they had "very low" confidence in the results, because of the quality of the studies that had previously been carried out. We concluded last year that the summary did not rule out the possibility that saturated fat might be harmful, and that we need to know what people should eat instead of saturated fat. This study has several strengths. It is very big, carried out over several decades, and checked people's diet every few years, so the researchers can assess the effects of changing diet over time. The researchers also adjusted their figures to take account of confounding factors. By calculating the possible effects of saturated and unsaturated fat compared to carbohydrate, it allows the researchers to calculate the effects of swapping one type of fat for another. The findings about trans-fats are unsurprising and not controversial. These artificially created fats, used in baked goods, are being phased out because of their effects on health. Cohort studies can never prove causality beyond doubt, so we cannot say that this shows saturated fat causes earlier deaths. However, the study d...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Heart/lungs Source Type: news