If you swap out trans fats (like in fried foods) for healthy fats like those in fish or nuts, your risk of heart disease drops a lot—what you replace it with matters more than just cutting fat.

Scientific Claim

Replacing 2% of daily energy from trans fats with polyunsaturated fats is associated with a 24% lower risk of coronary heart disease, based on observational data from large cohort studies, suggesting nutrient substitution matters more than absolute fat intake.

Original Statement

“Replacement of 2% of energy from trans fats with polyunsaturated fat... was associated with a 24% (0.76, 0.67 to 0.85) reduction in CHD risk.”

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 'associated with' and references observational data. The authors explicitly discuss substitution effects and cite the 24% reduction as a derived insight from cohort data.

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

Unknown Title

Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

Human

This study found that eating trans fats increases heart disease risk, but eating saturated fats doesn’t — so swapping bad fats (trans) for good ones (like polyunsaturated) likely helps your heart, even if total fat stays the same.

Contradicting (0)

No contradicting evidence found

Source Study

Unknown Title

Score: 48

DOI: 10.1136/bmj.h3978

Similar Assertions

If you swap out a little bit of butter or fatty meat for foods like nuts or vegetable oils, you're less likely to have a heart attack or die from heart disease.

84%

People who eat more artificial trans fats—like those in fried and baked goods—have a higher chance of having a heart attack or dying from heart disease.

79%

Even when researchers accounted for how many total calories people ate or how much other fats they consumed, the link between saturated fat and heart disease still didn’t show up.

79%

People who eat a lot of trans fats (like in fried or processed foods) are more likely to have heart problems than those who eat very little.

78%

One study looked at whether eating more unsaturated fat compared to saturated fat helps the heart — and found no link, even though other research has suggested it might.

78%