Nutrition Science and Everyday Application - beta v 0.1

LIPID RECOMMENDATIONS AND HEART HEALTH 297
• Keep the consumption of trans fats (any food label that reads partially
hydrogenated oil) as low as possible. (As manufactured trans fats are being
phased out of the U.S. food supply, Americans don’t have to worry as much about
identifying and avoiding trans fats. However, they’re still used in other parts of the
world.)
• Choose more lean and low-fat products when selecting meat, poultry, milk, and
dairy products.
The Complicated Relationship of Saturated Fat with Heart Health
Being conscious of the need to reduce blood cholesterol levels to improve health often
means limiting the consumption of saturated fats. Multiple studies have shown an
association between the saturated fats found in some meat, whole-fat dairy products,
butter, and tropical oils (coconut and palm oils) and higher LDL cholesterol levels. However,
while saturated fats have a historical reputation for being unhealthy, more recent research
has suggested that the link between saturated fat and heart disease may not be as clear cut
as we once thought.
The BMJ’s analysis on dietary fat and heart health explains the complicated relationship
as such:
“Synergism and interactions between different components of foods together with the degree
of processing and preparation or cooking methods lead to a ‘food matrix’ effect which is not
captured by considering single nutrients. Different types of food that are high in saturated
fats are likely to have different effects on health. For example, dairy products and processed
meats, both high in saturated fats, are differentially associated with many health outcomes
in prospective epidemiological studies, often in opposite directions. One explanation for this
divergence is that despite their similar fat content, other components of these two food groups
are associated with different health effects. For example, dairy products contain minerals such
as calcium and magnesium and have probiotic features if fermented, whereas processed red
meat has a high salt and preservative content.
To produce public health guidelines on which foods to eat or avoid to reduce the risk of
chronic disease is complicated because dietary fats are typically mixtures of different types of
fatty acids. Animal fats, for instance, are the main sources of saturated fats in many modern
diets, but some animal fats are higher in monounsaturated fats than saturated fats, and
polyunsaturated fats in vegetable oils will typically contain both omega-3 and omega-6 fatty
acids in different concentrations. Hence, conclusions about the health effects of saturated and
polyunsaturated fatty acids are unlikely to consistently translate to the health effects of the fats,
oils, and foods in which those fatty acids are present.”
In an article from Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter, Links Between Saturated Fat,
Blood Cholesterol & Heart Disease Prove Complex, researcher Ronald M. Krauss, MD, said,