v1

correlational

Analysis v1

Contested

Scientists found a link between eating saturated fat and heart disease by leaving out data from different countries that didn't fit their idea.

39

Pro

45

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

39

Community contributions welcome

39

The effect of replacing saturated fat with mostly n-6 polyunsaturated fat on coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

Human

2017 May 19

This study looked at past research on saturated fat and heart disease and found that when they only used the best studies without mistakes, there was no benefit. This means the original idea that saturated fat causes heart disease might have come from using bad data, which supports the claim.

Contradicting (1)

45

Community contributions welcome

45

Effect of reducing saturated fat intake on cardiovascular disease in adults: an umbrella review

Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

Human

2024

The study looks at whether eating less saturated fat helps heart health, but it doesn't check if scientists left out data to make saturated fat look bad. So it doesn't prove or disprove the claim about hidden data.

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Similar Assertions

The Seven Countries Study selectively reported data from only seven of 22 analyzed countries to falsely imply a causal relationship between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular disease, omitting data from 15 countries showing no association.

0

86%

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.

60

0

84%

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.

48

0

82%

Eating foods with saturated fat, like butter or meat, doesn't seem to raise your risk of heart disease or dying from it, based on the studies reviewed.

1

0

82%

There’s a hint that eating more saturated fat might raise the risk of dying from heart disease, but the data is too messy and uncertain to say for sure.

48

0

81%