{"id":35315,"date":"2021-05-19T09:27:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T13:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=35315"},"modified":"2021-05-26T08:49:17","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T12:49:17","slug":"saturated-fat-and-heart-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/saturated-fat-and-heart-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"The Truth About Saturated Fat and Heart Disease"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Is there a link between saturated fat and heart disease? Does consumption of saturated fat lead to an increased risk of coronary heart disease? Is there any scientific evidence to corroborate this association?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the 1950s, doctors and the general public alike have believed that consumption of saturated fat leads to coronary heart disease (CHD). However, only a few studies ever found a positive correlation between saturated fat and heart disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to learn more about the link between saturated fat and heart disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Saturated Fat and Heart Disease<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The idea that consumption of saturated fat and heart disease are linked was born in the 1960s when the US government formed the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs to research the relationship between food and health. For several years, scientists studied food consumption and health in America and discovered some interesting patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>During World War II, meat and dairy were strictly rationed, and rates of heart disease were reduced.&nbsp;<\/li><li>After the war, when rationing was no longer required, coronary heart disease skyrocketed in America.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Other cultures who maintained a plant-based diet after the war did not experience the same results.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These findings created the \u201clipid hypothesis,\u201d which stated that fat and cholesterol, mostly from meat and dairy, led to increased rates of heart disease. Once the hypothesis was embraced, all movement in the food industry became geared toward removing saturated fats from food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As saturated fats were removed, polyunsaturated fat and trans fat took their place. Meat remained a strong staple in the diet. Now, the chunk of beef on the plate was replaced by a chunk of chicken breast with a hefty side of carbohydrates. These actions were justified by the guidelines to \u201ceat more low-fat food.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-8611055c-44bf-4b00-b885-a0fb88faa5bf\">With free license to eat as much low-fat food as they wanted, people didn\u2019t change the amount of food they consumed. They ate massive amounts of foods deemed \u201cgood\u201d because of the nutrient value. You could now eat a whole box of low-fat cookies and call it healthy eating. Unfortunately, this thinking was based on a lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-98df2c5a-03d5-4711-975b-b0adfcdfeb0b\"><strong>As opposed to the lack of evidence linking saturated fat and heart disease, the evidence linking trans fat to heart disease is vast.<\/strong> Trans fats were the alternative fat used in most low-fat foods. It\u2019s hard to know how much trans fat was consumed before the 1990s, when scientists learned that the product they\u2019d been pushing was almost twice as likely as saturated fat to cause heart disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-2222f1e9-e3fc-4784-92f1-3f771e5265c2\">Trans fat negatively affects the body in the following ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\" id=\"block-f767f374-1a8a-4d99-865b-3f717739a561\"><li>It raises bad cholesterol and reduces good cholesterol.<\/li><li>It increases triglycerides, a risk factor for coronary heart disease.<\/li><li>It promotes inflammation and blood clotting.<\/li><li>It can lead to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/peter-attia-insulin-resistance\/\">insulin resistance<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, the war waged against saturated fats dismissed some key aspects of the role of fat in the body in general. The brain is mostly fat, which is needed to protect the delicate cells and neurons. Fats are also the foundation of the body\u2019s cellular walls. Different amounts of various fats help the body absorb vitamins and minerals on a cellular level.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is there a link between saturated fat and heart disease? Does consumption of saturated fat lead to an increased risk of coronary heart disease? Is there any scientific evidence to corroborate this association? Since the 1950s, doctors and the general public alike have believed that consumption of saturated fat leads to coronary heart disease (CHD). However, only a few studies ever found a positive correlation between saturated fat and heart disease. Keep reading to learn more about the link between saturated fat and heart disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":36269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16,7],"tags":[281],"class_list":["post-35315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","category-health","category-lifestyle","tag-in-defense-of-food","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Truth About Saturated Fat and Heart Disease - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Since the 1950s, people believed that consumption of saturated fat causes heart disease. However, the evidence is limited at best. Read more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/saturated-fat-and-heart-disease\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Truth About Saturated Fat and Heart Disease\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Since the 1950s, people believed that consumption of saturated fat causes heart disease. However, the evidence is limited at best. 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