Eating more saturated fat from meat, butter, or cheese doesn’t clearly make people more likely to die early or get heart disease or diabetes, but the science isn’t strong enough to be sure.

Scientific Claim

Total saturated fat intake shows no significant association with all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality, total coronary heart disease, ischemic stroke, or type 2 diabetes in adults, though the evidence is rated as very low certainty due to inconsistency and imprecision across studies.

Original Statement

“Saturated fat intake was not associated with all cause mortality (RR 0.99, 0.91 to 1.09), CVD mortality (0.97, 0.84 to 1.12), total CHD (1.06, 0.95 to 1.17), ischemic stroke (1.02, 0.90 to 1.15), or type 2 diabetes (0.95, 0.88 to 1.03). The certainty of associations between saturated fat and all outcomes was 'very low.'”

From study:Unknown Title

Evidence Quality Assessment

Claim Status

appropriately stated

Study Design Support

Design supports claim

Appropriate Language Strength

association

Can only show association/correlation

Assessment Explanation

The claim correctly uses 'no significant association' and acknowledges very low certainty, matching the study’s cautious interpretation and GRADE assessment. No causal language is used.

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

Unknown Title

Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

Human

This big study looked at lots of people over time and found that eating more saturated fat didn’t clearly make people more likely to die or get heart disease or diabetes — but the evidence isn’t super strong, so we can’t be totally sure.

Contradicting (0)

No contradicting evidence found

Source Study

Unknown Title

Score: 48

DOI: 10.1136/bmj.h3978

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