No Link Between Saturated Fats and Heart Disease

An international research collaboration led by the University of Cambridge analysed existing cohort studies and randomized 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.

Gates Cambridge Scholar Dr Rajiv Chowdhury, the lead author of the research at the University of Cambridge, said: “Cardiovascular disease, in which the principal manifestation is coronary heart disease, remains the single leading cause of death and disability worldwide. In 2008, more than 17 million people died from a cardiovascular cause globally. With so many affected by this illness, it is critical to have appropriate prevention guidelines which are informed by the best available scientific evidence.”

For the meta-analysis, the researchers analyzed data from 72 unique studies with over 600,000 participants from 18 nations. The investigators found that total saturated fatty acid, whether measured in the diet or in the bloodstream as a biomarker, was not associated with coronary disease risk in the observational studies.

Interestingly, the investigators found that different subtypes of circulating long-chain omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids had different associations with coronary risk, with some evidence that circulating levels of eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids (two main types of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids), and arachidonic acid (an omega-6 fat) are each associated with lower coronary risk.

Similarly, within saturated fatty acid, the researchers found weak positive associations between circulating palmitic and stearic acids (found largely in palm oil and animal fats, respectively) and cardiovascular disease, whereas circulating margaric acid (a dairy fat) significantly reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The implications of this study go far beyond just dietary adjustments and recommendations.

The earlier misguided assessments about saturated fat’s link to cardiovascular disease became the basis for the biggest selling class of pharmaceutical compounds of all time, with annual sales in exceeding $22 billion dollars worldwide. Hundreds of millions of people have been persuaded to take these statin medications indefinitely throughout their lifetime, subjecting them to an average of 392 possible side effects on a daily basis.

Common side effects have included brain-related impairment, Diabetes, muscle damage, sexual dysfunction, pancreatic, kidney, and liver dysfunction, sexual dysfunction, and mitochondrial damage that can lead to cancers and just about every other known disease.

The pathway by which stain drugs exert their influence in reducing cholesterol also generates other necessary compounds pivotal to human physiology and health. These essential compounds are lost as a side effect of statin use.

Even though lower cholesterol levels and statin drugs have had no impact on reducing heart disease and deaths, a recent revision in guidelines for their use attempts to increase the number of people taking statins by 12 million. In this scenario, the pharmaceutical industry wins and millions more suffer.

As the University of California researchers discovered after analyzing close to 900 studies on statin drugs, statin drug use has a toll that is neither
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