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Health See other Health Articles Title: Review questions the effects of dietary fats on heart disease NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The types of fat people get in their diet may not be as closely related to their risk of heart disease as previously believed, a new review of past studies suggests. Guidelines from the U.S. federal government and recommendations from the American Heart Association call for increased consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids and lower consumption of saturated fats. But researchers found people's risk of heart disease varied little based on how much of those fats they ate. Polyunsaturated fats generally come from plant-based foods such as nuts, seeds and vegetable oils. Omega-3 fatty acids, a type of polyunsaturated fats, are found in fish. On the other hand, most saturated fats in the American diet come from foods of animal origin, including red meat and high-fat dairy products. The authors of the new review say uncertainties in evidence have led to considerable variation in international guidelines on fat intake. They also say the use of self-reported diet information may have resulted in problems classifying the different fatty acids that people eat. "We intended to help resolve the existing uncertainties around fatty acids and their potential association with coronary heart disease risk," Dr. Rajiv Chowdhury told Reuters Health in an email. Chowdhury, from the University of Cambridge in the UK, led the review that was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. He and his colleagues collected data from 72 previously published studies of more than 600,000 people from 18 countries. Those included studies that measured the types of fatty acids people consumed or had in their blood, as well as those that randomly assigned people to take fatty acid supplements or not. All of the studies followed participants to see who developed heart problems like heart attacks, heart disease or coronary insufficiency. When Chowdhury and his team analyzed data on fatty acid intake, they found that none of the types of saturated or polyunsaturated fats had a significant impact on heart disease risk. However, consumption of trans fat - found in some processed foods and some forms of stick margarine - was tied to a 16 percent increase in risk. Guidelines call for avoiding trans fats altogether. When the researchers examined markers of fatty acids in the blood, they also found little difference in heart risk based on levels of saturated or polyunsaturated fats. But the results varied for individual fatty acids. The researchers found that higher blood levels of two forms of omega-3 fatty acids - docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) - were associated with a lower risk of heart disease. They did not see a significant reduction in heart disease risk with any of the fatty acids in studies that randomly assigned some participants to take them in supplement form. Doses used in the studies ranged from 2 to 5.5 grams per day of added oils and 0.3 to 6 grams per day when capsules were used. "The pattern of findings from this review did not support the current cardiovascular guidelines that encourage high consumption of total long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and suggest reduced consumption of total saturated fatty acids," Chowdhury said. But he said further careful research and specifically large-scale clinical trials are required before making a conclusive judgment and changing dietary guidelines. Linda Van Horn, from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, told Reuters Health the study was well done and demonstrated that some fatty acids are better than others. But it's not enough to change current guidelines, she added. Van Horn chaired the 2010 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee which was involved in creating federal recommendations and is a spokesperson for the American Heart Association. She was not involved in the new review. "People need to eat as has been recommended - this paper changes nothing about the adverse impact of saturated fat," she said. Van Horn pointed out that there is no biological need for saturated fats. "People like their burgers and their hot dogs," she said, "but this study still doesn't make them nutritious." "Frankly I'm really worried this will confuse consumers," Duffy MacKay told Reuters Health of the findings. MacKay is senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade association in Washington, D.C. He was not involved in the new research. "It may possibly be used by some as a license to ignore these decades of good advice, common sense and Grandma's advice, and go right for the cheese breads," he said. He said the report doesn't change what's perceived as a heart-healthy diet. "I think the concept of a diet high in polyunsaturated fat, low in saturated fat and low in trans fat still holds a lot of weight based on decades of research," he said. MacKay also said this report does nothing to change the need to get certain fatty acids in the diet. "It all pointed toward the contribution of EPA and DHA as maintaining heart health and preventing cardiovascular disease, which to me is promising," he said. Van Horn said the emphasis is still on choosing plant-based foods and fish. "It's just that now we'll have the ability to be more specific about what the better unsaturated fats choices are," she said. SOURCE: bit.ly/1i46lF7 Annals of Internal Medicine, online March 17, 2014. Poster Comment: [Rafferty] The right oils are very important for hormones, in a woman's body. Men NEED a little more oils than women. WITHOUT enough fat in the woman's diet, she will become so depleted in her endocrine system, that she will not flesh-out to be able to have a baby some day, and/or have female problems. Cottage cheese and avocados are great for this. The fat just must not sty solid at room temperature- like lard does. Keeping on the move is the best thing for heart. the heart rate must increase to a point where a person is too out of breath to walk and talk at the same time, for instance, and 30 minutes of any work will do this, at a fast pace. Circulation and no congestion/inflammation is the key. RickG Everything you know is wrong. Or at least it will be after the next study.+3 [Kathryn] I think if we eat food, and quit eating things that aren't food, we will be much healthier. I think it is the inflammation caused by eating all the non-food additives that causes heart disease. Heart disease was very rare before the early 1900s and the advent of transfats. Since that time we have come up with many other ways to increase shelf life, that like transfats are probably detrimental to our health.+3 [John] Average life span back then was around 50 years old. That's a MAJOR reason heart disease wasn't an issue.+1 David I would say we still don't know, and that physiology is hugely complicated. Eat right (most of us know pretty well what that means), and get a lot of exercise. Sometimes, the stress of NOT eating Ben & Jerry's is worse for you than the Ben & Jerry's ;-) [Kyle] Heart disease comes from too much sugar and not enough exercise. Obviously it is more complex than that but it's the main problem when it comes to overall health.+13 [thenoseknows] The "Council for Responsible Nutrition" is a TRADE ASSOCIATION that is still going to promote the same old same old nonsense it's been plugging for the last 60 years. It's appalling how many special interest groups masquerade as consumer advocates when they are nothing but trade associations out to foster their own interests. How do facts "confuse consumers"? By contradicting the self-interest of the food industry and the "expert" dieticians they employ. Fact: there are NO "decades of research" that support a "diet high in polyunsaturated fat, low in saturated fat and low in trans-fat". In fact the food industry was complicit in marketing trans fats UNTIL the actual science booted them in the butt publicly, and they're freaking out because butter is outselling margarine. Lumping saturated fats in with trans fats was a marketing ploy to keep foreign produced coconut and palm oils out of the free market. Coconut oil was demonized for decades as being high calorie even though those calories (from medium-chain triglycerides) cannot be deposited as body fat! Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
exactly.
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