Not All Saturated Fats Are the Same for Cardiovascular Health

A study found the source of sat­u­rated fat can make a big dif­fer­ence in heart health. While fat from meat is linked to a higher car­dio­vas­cu­lar risk, dairy fat is asso­ci­ated with a lower risk.

The effect of fat on the heart depends on the num­ber of car­bon atoms con­tained within the fatty acid chains. While sat­u­rated fatty acids in meats have 16 or more car­bon atoms, sat­u­rated fatty acids in dairy prod­ucts con­tain 14 or fewer car­bon atoms.

People who con­sume plant-based pro­tein and dairy prod­ucts typ­i­cally have a lower risk of a heart attack.

“Our analy­sis of the diets of large groups of indi­vid­u­als in two coun­tries over time shows that the type of sat­u­rated fats we con­sume could affect our car­dio­vas­cu­lar heath,” lead inves­ti­ga­tor Ivonne Sluijs, of the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care at the University Medical Center in Utrecht, Netherlands, said.

The study exam­ined data from approx­i­mately 75,000 peo­ple in the U.K., Denmark, the U.S. and the Netherlands. Of these, nearly 3,500 indi­vid­u­als had a heart attack between the study’s onset and the fol­low-up 13 years later.

In the U.S., sat­u­rated fat con­sump­tion comes largely from meat; but in Europe, sat­u­rated fat intake comes mostly from dairy prod­ucts.

Although fat con­sump­tion from meat sources was linked to a higher heart risk, fat from dairy foods was either inversely related to heart risk or had a neu­tral effect. The find­ings lend cre­dence to the the­ory that the type of sat­u­rated fat con­sumed deter­mines the effect on the heart.

“We found that eat­ing rel­a­tively lit­tle of the longer chained sat­u­rated fatty acids and con­sum­ing plant-based pro­teins instead was asso­ci­ated with a low­ered risk,” Sluijs said. ​“Substitution of those sat­u­rated fats with other energy sources such as car­bo­hy­drates did not affect the risk to develop myocar­dial infarc­tion.”

In the 1960s, sat­u­rated fat was tied to high lev­els of bad cho­les­terol, or LDL, which is a risk fac­tor for heart dis­ease. At this time, experts rec­om­mended restrict­ing sat­u­rated fat from all sources. However, because of incon­sis­tent results from stud­ies, the asso­ci­a­tion between sat­u­rated fat and heart dis­ease has been debated for years.

Recent research sug­gests the lack of con­sis­tency in results stems from the pos­si­bil­ity that var­ied types of sat­u­rated fat have dif­fer­ent effects on cho­les­terol and coro­nary heart dis­ease. Despite the find­ings in the cur­rent study that sup­port the pos­tu­la­tion, Sluijs and her research team advise cau­tion before chang­ing dietary guide­lines.

In an accom­pa­ny­ing edi­to­r­ial, Jun Li and Qi Sun, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, advo­cated con­sump­tion of a diet that involves a high intake of fruits and veg­eta­bles, as well as the replace­ment of refined grains with whole grains.

They also advised low­er­ing salt intake and lim­it­ing con­sump­tion of sugar, red meat and processed meat. Eating the Mediterranean diet, which fea­tures fruits, veg­eta­bles and whole grains, is a good way to fol­low these advi­sories. The study was pub­lished in the International Journal of Cardiology.

Kathy Gruver, a nat­ural health author, speaker and prac­ti­tioner, told Olive Oil Times that fol­low­ing the Mediterranean diet heeds both the advice of the study and the rec­om­men­da­tions from Harvard.

“The Mediterranean Diet, which con­sists of good fats in the form of fatty fish, nuts and olive oil, cer­tainly ful­fills the need of get­ting healthy fats in the diet,” she said. ​“So if you are being con­scious of the fats that you are con­sum­ing, chang­ing out lots of meat for olive oil and fish is ben­e­fi­cial. Also, lim­it­ing sugar is vastly impor­tant and sugar will actu­ally mess with cho­les­terol more than fat will.”

“Our health is a com­bi­na­tion of healthy diet, ratio­nal exer­cise and lucky genet­ics. Let’s con­trol what we can, which is the diet and exer­cise,” she added. ​“Consume as many good fats as you can. Avoid foods that are inflam­ma­tory or toxic and engage in reg­u­lar work­outs. These prac­tices can help stave off the effects from genet­ics that may be com­pletely out of our con­trol.”

• International Journal of Cardiology


• International Journal of Cardiology


• Science Daily