Just a small cut in saturated fats 'reduces heart disease risk'

Conclusion This study shows an association between increased intake of individual saturated fats and increased risk of coronary heart disease. It also shows a link between the replacement of these fatty acids with other types of fat, plant protein, or wholegrain carbohydrates and a reduction in coronary heart disease risk. The strengths of this study are the large sample size and long follow-up period that looked at repeated measures such as diet, lifestyle and health outcomes. It also provides clear support for dietary guidelines that recommend replacing dietary energy from saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats as well as wholegrain carbohydrates and plant source proteins. However, there are a number of limitations to the study: Although the study adjusted for confounding variables, there may be other factors that were not accounted for. For example, stress and life events might be contributors to coronary heart disease, but were not measured. The analysis was based on self-reported dietary intake and therefore may be subject to recall bias. The study populations were comprised of health professionals who might have very similar lifestyles to one another; therefore the results may not be representative of other populations. Finally, most people did not just eat only one type of saturated fat, so it is hard to disentangle which have more association with coronary heart disease. Also, the study did not consider other types of fatty acids, such as those found i...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Food/diet Source Type: news