When scientists combined all the big studies, they found eating butter or meat doesn’t raise your risk of heart disease.
Scientific Claim
Multiple large-scale meta-analyses of prospective cohort studies demonstrate no statistically significant association between dietary saturated fat intake and incidence of coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease.
Original Statement
“There are actually five major meta analyses on this topic which like I said earlier are essentially studies of studies where they get the results of lots of similar studies and do an overview of all of these different results. In all five they find that there is no association between saturated fat intake and heart disease.”
Context Details
Domain
nutrition
Population
human
Subject
dietary saturated fat intake
Action
shows no significant association with
Target
incidence of coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease
Intervention Details
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (5)
Evidence from randomised controlled trials did not support the introduction of dietary fat guidelines in 1977 and 1983: a systematic review and meta-analysis
This study found that cutting back on saturated fat didn’t lower the number of heart disease deaths, even though it lowered cholesterol — meaning the old advice to avoid saturated fat for heart health wasn’t backed by solid evidence.
Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease
This big study looked at lots of people over many years and found that eating more saturated fat didn’t make them more likely to get heart disease or stroke.
Unknown Title
This big study looked at lots of people over time and found that eating saturated fat didn’t clearly increase the risk of heart disease or stroke, which matches the claim.
Evidence from prospective cohort studies does not support current dietary fat guidelines: a systematic review and meta-analysis
This study looked at lots of people over many years and found that eating more saturated fat didn’t make them more likely to die from heart disease, so the idea that saturated fat is bad for your heart isn’t backed by this evidence.
Association of dietary, circulating, and supplement fatty acids with coronary risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis
This big study looked at what hundreds of thousands of people ate and found that eating more saturated fat didn’t make them more likely to get heart disease, which matches the claim that saturated fat isn’t strongly linked to heart problems.
Contradicting (2)
Abstract 18256: Importance of Controlling Dietary Intake of Saturated Fat for Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease: Lessons From the Metabolic Ward Studies
This study shows that eating too much saturated fat raises 'bad' cholesterol, which increases heart disease risk — so cutting it out helps your heart, contrary to the claim that it doesn't matter.
Major types of dietary fat and risk of coronary heart disease: a pooled analysis of 11 cohort studies.
This study found that eating less saturated fat and more healthy fats (like those in nuts and fish) lowers heart disease risk, which means saturated fat does matter for heart health—not the other way around.